Friends to Lovers
by HeroxPartnerfan96
Summary: Ash and May first meet at the start of Ash's new journey in Hoenn and the two decide to travel together. As their adventure goes on, new feelings surface and the two become close in ways they never expected. Advanceshipping and other pairings, on hold until Battle for the Net blows over
1. How We First Met

**Friends to Lovers**

**(This can be considered a remake of my original Advanced Generation adaptation, but this will be much better than the last one. This will be a combination of the anime and my own ideas in celebration of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire's upcoming release. With all that said, hope you enjoy!)**

**Chapter 1: How We First Met**

At the Hoenn Region, somewhere out in a clear path heading through a forest, the sound of a bike wheel could be heard streaking down the path. Suddenly, a red bike with someone riding on it lifted up into the air for a few moments before landing safely on the path and continuing its way. The person riding the bike was a thirteen year old girl with bright blue eyes wearing a red dress-like outfit with a dark blue collar on the top and a large white stripe on the end with her yellow bag strapped around her waist, short dark blue leggings, black socks with red shoes on top that had a yellow stripe streaking across the side, a white strap on the top with a dark blue oval shape underneath, white gloves with the finger areas coloured dark blue and had a dark blue stripe on the bottom and a red bandana with a white Pokeball symbol on the left side tied around her dark brown hair which hung down in two pigtail-like sections. Her name was May Maple and she was on her way to Littleroot Town to pick up her first Pokemon. With a bright smile on her face, May started to increase her cycling speed.

'_Littleroot Town is just up ahead. I won't be too far now.' _May thought, now knowing that she was getting closer to her destination. But then she felt like that there was something beside her and slowly turned her gaze to the left to see a grey-coloured ghost floating that had a skull for a face, two bone symbols in its back and a single red eye in the centre of its mask face: from what May remembered at Trainer School, that was a Duskull. May's eyes immediately bulged and she screamed in alarm, but then she lost control of her bike and skidded down the hill before slamming head-first into a tree she didn't see coming. "I guess I…should have worn a…helmet." May groaned before she dropped down onto the ground. Duskull looked down at her lying on the ground and chuckled at its prank before floating away.

May slowly sat up and rubbed her head before looking up at the Duskull leaving with a frown crossing her face. "That isn't funny! I could have gotten hurt!" May yelled not realizing that the Duskull couldn't hear her. She glared for a few moments before she sighed in dismay and got back up on her feet. "To be honest, I don't really like Pokemon." May commented, speaking more to herself as she bent down, lifted her bike up and hopped on to continue her way. "But the travelling, I really love it!" she added with a bright smile replacing her frown as she resumed pedalling up the hill.

May soon made it to the top of the hill and she stopped to have a look at the view. "Wow!" May whispered in awe; she could see the buildings of Littleroot Town from where she was, and she knew that she was getting close to her destination. She then looked down to see a ferry heading across the ocean towards the port. "I wonder who would be on their way here." May commented as she watched the ferry. She then shook her head deciding not to think about it and continued pedalling so she could get to Littleroot Town quickly.

As May was cycling down the path, she didn't notice that the back wheel of her bike had come loose. After about a few seconds, the wheel suddenly broke off and May was sent going harshly to the left down towards the forest. May looked down in surprise wondering why she was going in a different direction, and she turned her head to find that the back wheel of her bike wasn't there anymore. "Oh no!" May cried, realising she was in trouble. She held on tight to the front bars as she zoomed down the grassy hill and then she dropped off the edge and was sent flying off her bike and landed on the grass hard. She then sat up and rubbed her head just to make sure that she hadn't landed on that. After making sure that her head was still intact, May looked back to find that her bike lacked one wheel and it had rolled down and landed beside the bike. "What am I going to do now? I don't know how to fix a bike." May said, looking at the broken bike in dismay. Thanks to that, not only was her bike in a bit of a wreck, but she was now a bit further away from Littleroot Town.

The bushes behind her suddenly started to shake, and May turned her head to see this. So she got up on her feet and slowly walked over to the bushes. "H-hello? Is someone there?" May asked, pushing the bushes aside to see what was there. She looked both directions a few times and then she looked to find herself staring face-to-face with three grey wolf-like Pokemon with black fur and bright red eyes, which started to growl angrily at her. May screamed in panic and fell backwards, quickly backing away in fear as the three Pokemon slowly walked out from behind the bushes glaring at her; from their appearance, May could recognize them as Mightyena. May slowly stood up, her heart pounding in her chest from fear. "They're probably angry because I landed in their territory." May commented to herself as she looked at the three Mightyena. She was able to stand upright and she slowly backed away while the Mightyena continued to growl at her. "I didn't mean to step into your territory. I'll just be leaving if that's what you want." May said, trying her best to avoid showing any signs of fear.

Unfortunately, the Mightyena seemed too angry to listen to reason and they immediately started to charge towards May. May screamed in panic, and then she turned around and made a run for it grabbing her bike and the broken wheel on the way. As May ran through the forest, she could see that the Mightyena were in hot pursuit behind her. "How did I end up in a mess like this?!" May asked, clearly not able to understand how she went from simply being on her way to pick up her first Pokemon to ending up being chased by three irritated Mightyena. She soon found that she was backed up against a cliff face and she turned to see the three Mightyena had her cornered.

"HELP!" May screamed, her voice echoing through the trees and scaring some bird Pokemon away.

Meanwhile on the ferry, a fourteen year old boy wearing a blue sweatshirt with a light blue half Pokeball symbol on the bottom and short dark blue sleeves, light blue tracksuit pants, blue sneakers with a white stripe on the bottom and two dark blue half-ovals on the front, black fingerless gloves with a big light green stripe on the end and a red cap with a big black oval shape in the middle and green Pokeball symbol in front over his raven coloured hair with a green bag that had black stripes and a red circle in the centre on his back was standing out on the balcony overlooking Littleroot Town coming closer into view. His name was Ash Ketchum and he was on his way to compete in the Hoenn League. Ash aspired to become a Pokemon Master and so far he had travelled through two different regions: his home region, Kanto, and Johto while also going through the Orange Islands, and Hoenn would now be the third region he had travelled to. Ash hadn't been travelling alone, however: he was joined by Misty Waterflower, a fiery water-type Trainer who was also one of the Cerulean Gym Leaders alongside her sisters, Brock Harrison, the Pewter City Gym Leader who was also training to become a Pokemon Breeder, and Tracey Sketchit, a Pokemon Watcher. Ash had recently parted ways with Brock and Misty, since Misty had to take charge of the Cerulean Gym while her sisters were out on a world tour and Brock had to resume his duties as the Pewter Gym Leader. Ash, in all honesty, really was hoping that he, Brock and Misty would all be going to this region since it was a lot of fun while they were travelling together. Regardless, Ash was certain that this would be another exciting adventure for him with so many new Pokemon to discover.

"Look out, Hoenn League! I'm on my way!" Ash cheered, his fist up in the air. Ash's partner Pokemon, Pikachu, who was sitting on his shoulder sighed and slowly shook his head at his friend's excitement. Ash looked over at Pikachu with a bright smile. "Sorry about that, Pikachu. It's just that you have no idea how excited I am. This is the start of a new adventure for us, with so many new Pokemon waiting for us and new places to explore. Are you ready for all this?" Ash asked.

"(You know I am, Ash!)" Pikachu agreed, a bright smile crossing his face with his fist up in the air. Pikachu was Ash's first Pokemon when he started his adventure and while the two didn't have an easy start, they had been best friends ever since. Pikachu also didn't like being inside a Pokeball; he preferred to stay outside and sit on Ash's shoulder. That wasn't an issue for either of them, since that meant they now took on all this travelling together.

At a different area of the balcony, the Rocket Trio consisting of Jessie Musashi, James Kojiro and Meowth could see Littleroot Town coming clear into view the closer they got. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Littleroot Town. Please ensure that you have gathered all your belongings as we prepare for arrival." An announcement over the speakers said.

"Littleroot Town?" James asked. "The city whose colours will never change." James and Meowth both looked at Jessie in surprise; she was the one who said that. She was looking out at the approaching city with a smile on her face. "That's right. Littleroot Town has remained true to its roots." Jessie commented. She then rested her chin on her arms and closed her eyes as if she was lost in reminiscence. "I guess my colours have slowly been changing over the years." Jessie added.

James came over and stood next to Jessie wrapping his left arm around her, though she didn't seem to notice, while Meowth climbed up onto the top of the balcony bars. "What do you mean?" Meowth asked, having no idea what Jessie was talking about. "Jessie, have you been here before?" James asked, tilting his head out of curiosity. Jessie nodded in agreement and she then looked up at the clear blue sky watching the few clouds there were drift by.

"Is this...all that there is?" Jessie asked. James and Meowth both stared at her, wondering what she was talking about. "Following the twerp and trying to catch that Pikachu. James, have we ever truly blasted off at the speed of light?" Jessie asked, turning her gaze to the other two members of their trio. James and Meowth were both silent before they turned to each other.

"Is she speaking hypothetically?" James asked. "If that means wacky, then yes." Meowth replied.

Wobbuffet then popped out of his Pokeball and blurted "Wobbuffet!" prompting James and Meowth to look over at him. Jessie then grabbed out Wobbuffet's Pokeball and returned him into it, and then she happily sighed while James and Meowth both sighed in dismay.

Soon the ship landed at port and Ash quickly got off now arriving at Littleroot Town. "So this is Littleroot Town. It's huge!" Ash commented as he and Pikachu looked around in amazement. "(It sure is.)" Pikachu agreed nodding slowly, looking at the city with the same awe as Ash. As Ash started to walk forward to start looking around, he noticed that there was a phone just nearby.

"We better let Professor Birch know that we're here." Ash suggested. "(Good idea.)" Pikachu agreed. With this, Ash went over to the phone and grabbed it dialling the number of Professor Birch's lab, after which he placed the phone to his ear. After about a few seconds of waiting, the screen turned on and a man wearing a white coat on top of yellow, short dark green hair and glasses was shown. "Hello?" he asked. Ash smiled; he figured that it was one of Professor Birch's assistant.

"Hi there. My name's Ash. I was wondering if Professor Birch was available. He said to call and let him know that I had arrived in Hoenn." Ash explained.

"Professor Birch is out on the field conducting an experiment right now. I'll get in touch with him and let him know." The assistant said. "That's great. Thanks." Ash replied. With this, the screen turned off and Ash placed the phone back. He then turned to Pikachu who had been wondering what happened during that conversation.

"I don't think Professor Birch will be there for a while. So until he arrives, how about we do a bit of sightseeing?" Ash asked. "(Okay!)" Pikachu happily agreed, nodding immediately at this idea. With this, Ash rushed out into the city to have a look around. He happily smiled as he and Pikachu could see the various buildings around the area.

"This town is even bigger than I thought it would be. I guess that can be considered a good thing." Ash commented. Pikachu turned his head to notice something behind them, and then he smiled and started to tap Ash's head to get his attention. "What is it, buddy?" Ash asked, looking up at his little partner. Pikachu then pointed forward and Ash turned to see that there was an extra tall building that looked like it was nearly touching the sky. "Wow, that looks amazing! I don't think I've seen a building so big." Ash said, a bright smile crossing his face. He suddenly heard his stomach growl and looked over at Pikachu. "Why not we look for somewhere to have some lunch?" he suggested.

"(Sounds like a great idea to me. I'm a bit hungry myself.)" Pikachu agreed nodding; they had been on a ship travelling for about a few hours, so it would seem reasonable for them to grab a bite now.

Meanwhile out in the forest, May poked her head out from behind a bush to see the Mightyena that had been following her. They were looking around but didn't seem to notice any sign for her, so that meant that they seemed to have lost interest in pursuing her. Knowing that she was in the clear for the moment, May poked her head down and sighed in relief. "Well, at least I won't have to worry about them following me now. I need to find a place to get to higher ground." May said. She then poked her head back up and looked around for somewhere before she saw that just ahead from where she hid was a tree right beside a cliff face leading upwards and her bike was there as well: she could climb up the tree and continue her way to Littleroot Town before the Mightyena knew where she was.

"That's perfect! I'll be able to get higher up from there. I just need to make sure that the Mightyena don't notice me." May commented as she immediately ducked her head back down before the Mightyena saw her. She then slowly crawled out from behind the bush, got back up on her feet and started to slowly walk towards the tree making sure that the Mightyena didn't hear her. However, she didn't notice that there was a small stick lying in her path and she accidently stepped on it snapping it in half. May flinched at this and she slowly turned her head to see that the Mightyena had heard her, and they had spotted her and started to charge towards her. May jumped in panic before she immediately turned and started to run towards the tree with the Mightyena right behind her. Making it to the tree, Mat grabbed on and rapidly climbed up before she made it to a tree branch and sat down on it to catch her breath. She then looked down to see the Mightyena glaring up at her and growling, and a smile of satisfaction crossed her face.

"Sorry, you guys. But you won't be able to get me from up here!" May called, taunting the Mightyena. Unfortunately, the branch that she had decided to sit on must have been a bit weak because it started to break off. May then turned to see this and before she had a chance to jump off to the cliff face, the branch snapped off and May was sent tumbling down to the ground where the Mightyena were waiting for. They stepped backwards and watched as May landed on the ground. May then slowly sat up and lifted her head up to see the Mightyena glaring down at her. She immediately jumped up on her feet and quickly rushed off while the Mightyena followed.

"Come on, can't you give me a break? How long are you going to keep coming after me?" May asked, clearly starting to get exhausted from running away from these guys. She looked back to see that the Mightyena didn't seem to be tired in the slightest; it seemed like they didn't want to stop until they cornered her. "Someone please help me!" May yelled out; she didn't want to be taken down by these Pokemon.

Meanwhile, Ash and Pikachu were sitting at a diner enjoying some lunch: Ash was munching on a cheeseburger while Pikachu was enjoying a can of Pokemon food. "How are you enjoying your food, Pikachu? Is it good?" Ash asked, his mouth full of a chunk of cheeseburger. Pikachu turned to Ash, chewing on some Pokemon food before swallowing it and happily nodded.

"(It sure is, Ash. What about you?)" Pikachu replied. "Mine's great, thanks for asking. Glad you're enjoying your food as well." Ash responded, with the two friends happily smiling at each other. Ash had to admit that this had been a great start to arriving in Hoenn; he didn't need to worry about having to handle bigger worries before he could actually start travelling. But then, his eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something.

"Professor Birch will probably be waiting for us! We better hurry and run back to see him." Ash said. Pikachu nodded in agreement to that, so he jumped up onto Ash's shoulder and the two rushed out of the diner just as the waitress was coming to see them. She looked outside the door to see Ash already clear out heading back to the port. "He must be in a rush for something important." she commented.

Ash arrived back at the port and, upon hearing the sound of wheels scraping across the concrete, turned his head to see a large green vehicle pull up in front of him with someone behind the wheel: it was Professor Birch. "Are you Ash Ketchum?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's right. I called up earlier to let you that I arrived, but I was told that you were away. So I've been waiting here until you came." Ash agreed.

"Well, it's great to see you made it safely. Hop in with me and we'll go to the lab." Professor Birch said. Ash nodded in agreement, so he jumped in the seat beside Professor Birch and the two were off. As the car headed down the path, Ash could see that there was what looked like butterfly-like Pokemon flying through the air. "Ash, I was wondering if you had seen someone named May while you were waiting." Professor Birch said.

"No, I don't think so. Why's that?" Ash asked, shaking his head. "(I haven't seen anyone like that either.)" Pikachu added, shaking his head in agreement with Ash. Professor Birch didn't respond, so Ash looked down wondering who exactly that could be. Soon they arrived at Professor Birch's lab, which was a white building with a round yellow lab and several windows on the front and side. Inside, Ash was sitting on the couch still thinking about who Professor Birch asked him about a little earlier: he had to wonder who exactly May was, and why he was asked if he had seen her.

"So, who is May?" Ash asked, looking up at the assistant. "Oh, that's right. May's starting her adventure as a Pokemon Trainer. She called earlier to say that she was on her way, but she hasn't arrived yet. So we aren't sure of what's happened to cause May's delay." The assistant explained. Ash immediately couldn't help but smile hearing that May was starting her Pokemon journey, but then his smile faded upon remembering that she was being held up. If she was kept waiting much longer, she could miss out on getting her first Pokemon. Ash remembered the feeling of missing out on starting an adventure; that was nearly happened to him when he overslept the day he was getting his own Pokemon. Ash was lost in thought for a few moments, before he immediately smiled again getting an idea.

"I know! How about I help look for her?" Ash suggested. Professor Birch and the assistant both looked at each other in uncertainty; there was no telling where May could be or if she was even coming. "Don't worry, I've gotten lost myself and have always managed to find my way to wherever I was going. I'll make sure to find May and help her get to the lab in no time." Ash explained. Pikachu happily nodded in agreement, as if to say to leave it to Ash since he seemed to know what he was doing.

"All right then, we'll leave that to you, Ash. May should be easy to recognise; she's wearing a red bandana over her hair." Professor Birch said. Ash nodded in agreement, so he jumped up on his feet and headed outside to head to the forest. As he got close, he turned to Pikachu.

"Professor Birch said that May's wearing a red bandana, so if we see that we should be able to find her. So let's get going!" Ash explained. "(You got it, Ash!)" Pikachu agreed. With this, Ash rushed out into the forest unaware that the Rocket Trio were watching from a bush nearby.

"Wonder what's gotten into them?" Meowth commented. Jessie then sighed in dismay and crossed her arms. "Oh, goody... Where they run, we run too." Jessie said. James smiled nervously and said "It's what we do, Jess: chase." He then looked in the direction that Ash had gone and started to look in curiosity. "Who was this 'May' person he was talking about?" James asked, mostly to himself.

Meanwhile with May, she was continuing her running from the Pokemon chasing her down. She looked behind her back and noticed that the Mightyena were nowhere to be seen, and then she looked all around her to see that they weren't there. Realising that she was in the clear, May left out a long sigh of relief. "I guess they must have given up now. Now I can finally be on my way out of here." May said. However, hearing some growling from behind her immediately changed her mind and she slowly turned around to see the Mightyena: they had decided on a surprise attack. May screamed and stumbled back in panic to find that she had been cornered near a cliff edge and that just so happened to be where her bike was. Unfortunately, she didn't have any way to get up here leaving her trapped.

Meanwhile, Ash was running through the forest in search of May. "May! May, where are you?" Ash called. "(May? May!)" Pikachu added, helping in Ash calling out her name in the hopes that she would hear them. Just then, Ash suddenly heard a loud scream coming from nearby and turned his head to see that it was just up ahead.

"That sounded like it was May, and she might be in danger! We better hurry and find her!" Ash gasped. "(Okay!)" Pikachu agreed, immediately nodding in agreement. With this, Ash started to run to find May before anything bad happened to her.

Meanwhile, May slowly backed away the furthest she could go as the Mightyena slowly advanced towards her. "I guess my journey ends before it even begins." May said, now aware that she was trapped and she didn't have any way out. Up at the top of the cliff face, Ash arrived at the source of the scream, and he looked down and gasped in shock to see who looked like May backed into a corner by three Pokemon he had never seen before. The Mightyena then lunged forward, and May immediately closed her eyes and looked away awaiting the inevitable impact.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder into the air and released a strong bolt of electricity striking the ground between May and the Mightyena, frightening the Mightyena and sending them running away in fear. May slowly opened her eyes to find that she was still all here, and then she lowered her arms to see that the Mightyena were gone; they must have been chased away. May then sat down on the ground and sighed in immense relief; for a minute, she thought she was done for.

"Hey, need a hand?" May then stood up upon hearing that voice and looked around wondering who said that, and then she turned around to see that a hand was being lifted down towards her to help her get up the cliff face. Not looking up to see who was offering her help, May grabbed the hand and she was pulled up to the edge. Ash bent down to see May. "Are you all right?" he asked. May then looked up to see who had saved her and found herself face to face with Ash gently smiling at her with Pikachu looking at her from his shoulder. May found that she was at a loss of words: this was the most amazing boy that she had ever met, and that said a lot considering that she hadn't met many boys growing up. She then slowly smiled and nodded.

"I am now. Thank you so much." May replied, slowly standing up with Ash doing the same thing so they were in direct eye contact.

"You must be May, is that right?" Ash asked. May nodded in agreement, but then she nearly jumped in surprise upon hearing that this boy she had just met knew her. "Wait. You know me?" she asked.

"I was told who you were so I could find you. My name's Ash." Ash replied. "(And I'm Pikachu, Ash's partner Pokemon.)" Pikachu added. May then smiled and nodded in understanding.

"Well, if that's true. Thanks, Ash." May said. The two then brightly smiled at each other; it was almost as if they were the only ones here and no one was around to disturb them.

Meanwhile, Professor Birch was out in a different area of the forest; he had gone out as well to find May. "May? Where are you, May?" he asked. He then took a step forward unaware that he was standing on the edge of a slope, and then he slipped and slid down the small hill dropping his bag at the top in the process, and dropped off a small cliff and landed on the ground startling a small grey wolf-like Pokemon that had been sleeping beside him. Professor Birch slowly sat up and he looked down to see the little Pokemon growling at him, to which he smiled nervously. "Oh, hi there. Sorry for just dropping in on you like that, Poochyena." Professor Birch said. The Poochyena lifted its head up into the air and let out a howl, causing two more Poochyena to scatter over and all three started to growl at Professor Birch.

They then lunged forward and Professor Birch was left running away from them around a tree. "Please, stop it! Can't we discuss this?" Professor Birch asked. However, it seemed that the Poochyena weren't up for listening to reason at the moment.

Hearing yelling for help from where they were, Ash and May both turned their heads in surprise. "What was that?" May asked. "It sounded like Professor Birch, and he could use some help! Let's go!" Ash said. The two started to rush off, but Ash stopped when he saw a red bike lying on the ground with a broken wheel beside it: it seemed like that was May's bike.

"May, what happened to your bike?" Ash asked. "Oh, I wasn't paying attention and the back wheel broke. And I don't know how to fix it either." May explained, looking down in dismay. Ash bent down to grab the bike, while Pikachu spun the back wheel over to him. Ash grabbed the wheel from Pikachu and put it back into place, and he lifted the bike up now that it was standing upright and stepped out of the way for May to see. May happily smiled seeing that her bike now looked right again.

"Wow, you fixed my bike? Oh, thanks Ash." May said. "No problem, May. Now we better hurry: Professor Birch will need our help." Ash replied, a determined expression replacing his smile at May's gratitude. May nodded in agreement, so she jumped up onto her bike and pedalled off to find Professor Birch while Ash ran alongside her. The two didn't take long to arrive and they saw Professor Birch had climbed up onto a tree branch to avoid the Poochyena, and he smiled to see Ash and May.

"May, there you are! Great timing. Quick, open the bag in front of you and grab one of the Pokeballs inside it." Professor Birch called. May looked down to see the bag in front of her, so she bent down and unzipped it to see that there were three Pokeballs inside. She then reached inside it, grabbed one of the Pokeballs and threw it up into the air, causing it to open and release a small blue Pokemon with orange cheeks that had fins on them, a light blue square tail and a long fin on its head. "All right, a Mudkip!" Professor Birch smiled.

"That's good. What do I do now?" May asked. "You need to tell it to use one of its signature moves, like Water Gun." Professor Birch explained.

"Okay. Mudkip, use Water Gun!" May replied, looking down at Mudkip. Mudkip looked up at May and shot a blast of water from its mouth at her face drenching her in water. Once Mudkip was done, May was soaked. "Is that supposed to happen?" May asked. Ash and Pikachu started trying to stifle their giggles after seeing that.

Professor Birch sighed upon realising that they weren't getting anywhere. But then the branch he was holding onto snapped and broke off sending him down to the ground and causing him to get chased by the Poochyena all over again. "Mudkip, this way! Over here!" Professor Birch called. Mudkip jumped off the edge while Ash and May watched and landed safely on the ground.

"Use Water Gun on the Poochyena!" Professor Birch said. Mudkip shot out a strong blast of water from its mouth at the Poochyena drenching them and sending them running away. Once they were gone, Professor Birch returned Mudkip to its Pokeball and looked up at Ash and May. "Thanks for your help, you two." he said.

"Oh, it was nothing." May replied, rubbing the back of her head while smiling nervously. "We didn't even do anything." Ash whispered turning to Pikachu. Pikachu then shrugged deciding it would be better not to correct that.

"It's good to see you're all right, May. I was worried that something might have happened to you." Professor Birch said. "Well, you should thank Ash for that. I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for his help." May responded, looking over at Ash with a bright smile. A blush appeared on Ash's face, and he smiled nervously while slowly scratching his left cheek with one finger.

"So, May, are you ready to head over to the Lab and get your first Pokemon?" Professor Birch asked. Ash then brightly smiled hearing this. "Oh, that's right! You're going to get your first Pokemon. That's great!" he said. May nodded in agreement with a smile, but then she looked down with an expression of dishearten; she was wondering if she should say that she didn't like Pokemon or not.

A little later, Ash, May and Professor Birch were on their way to the Lab with May bringing her bike beside her. Ash turned his head to May and figured to start some conversation with her. "So, May, looking forward to getting your first Pokemon?" he asked. May looked up at Ash for a few moments and then she looked back down. Noticing that there wasn't a response, Ash's smile was replaced with an expression of concern. "Feeling a bit nervous about it?" he asked. Deciding not to mention her dislike of Pokemon, May looked back up at Ash and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know how that feels. I remember when I was going to get my first Pokemon too. I was excited about it, but I felt a bit worried since I couldn't decide who I wanted to get. But don't worry, May. Whoever you decide to choose, I'm sure you'll get along with them very well. Look at me and Pikachu." Ash explained, turning his head to Pikachu at the end of that. Pikachu happily smiled: he remembered that day as clearly as Ash did. May couldn't help herself smiling and she nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, the sound of a loud stomp on the ground could be heard and the three turned around in surprise. "What's that?" May asked. Standing there before them was a large robot in the shape of a battery, and its arms and legs were in the shape of batteries and standing at the top of the machine where the plugs would be were the Rocket Trio, with Jessie and James having their hands together. Wobbuffet then popped out of his Pokeball like he usually did and blurted "Wobbuffet!"

"It's Team Rocket!" Ash gasped. "You know those guys?" May asked. I've never heard of them." Professor Birch commented.

"Believe me, they're always up to no good and they keep trying to catch Pikachu." Ash said. "(That's right. We always run into them.)" Pikachu agreed.

The Rocket Trio then jumped into their seats inside the machine. "I've been doing my homework and dig this. I've come up with a machine that will beat that pesky Pikachu at its own nasty game. No matter how high those volts go, this machine will absorb them!" Meowth explained.

"(Oh, I'll show you, Team Rocket!)" Pikachu called. He was about to jump off Ash's shoulder to take them down, but Ash quickly held him back. "Don't move, Pikachu! That machine will absorb your electricity." Ash warned. Pikachu quickly realised where Ash was getting at with this and nodded in understanding, figuring it would be better to stay put.

"That's how you want to play? Fine with us!" Meowth yelled from inside the machine. Just then, a mechanical claw shot out from inside the machine and grabbed Pikachu off Ash's shoulder, pulling him towards them and two metal plungers were attached to Pikachu's red cheeks. From inside the machine, James pulled a lever to start absorbing Pikachu's electricity and then suddenly, sparks of electricity started to fly everywhere while the battery gauge on the middle of the machine started to increase.

"What an electrifying moment for Team Rocket!" Meowth announced. "Shocking!" James commented.

Down on the ground, Ash, May and Professor Birch watched this on. Seeing his friend in danger, Ash started to run towards the machine but felt someone holding him back. He turned to see that it was May holding him by the shoulder. "Ash, don't! That machine is dangerous. You could get electrocuted badly!" May warned.

"I have to save Pikachu!" Ash retorted. He then pushed May's hand off his shoulder and ran towards the machine while May and Professor Birch watched on in disbelief. Ash grabbed hold of one of the machine's legs and started to climb up the body until he got to the arms holding Pikachu. "Don't worry, Pikachu! I'll get you off this thing!" Ash called, moving out of the way as electric bolts flew past him. He then grabbed hold of the claw and started pulling on it to try and get it to let go of Pikachu.

"Looks like we've got someone trying to step in and stop our absorption." Meowth commented. "Well, we'll give him a taste of his own electric medicine!" James replied. With this, the claw opened up dropping Pikachu onto the ground and grabbed hold of Ash instead.

"You won't get away with this, Team Rocket!" Ash called, struggling to get free of the claw's grasp. "Well, we'll just see about that!" Meowth replied. With this, he pulled one of the levers and the electricity that they had absorbed from Pikachu suddenly came back out of the machine and hit Ash instead. Ash then suddenly screamed as the electricity was shot into him: if he thought that getting shocked by Pikachu was painful enough, then this was giving Pikachu's shocks a run for their money.

"Ash!" May yelled. "Ash!" Professor Birch called. Pikachu slowly got up on his feet and shook his head, and then he looked around wondering what was going on before he looked up to see Ash getting electrocuted by Team Rocket's machine. "(ASH!)" Pikachu screamed, seeing his best friend being put through this amount of pain.

"What's the matter? Can't take the juice?" Meowth asked. "I'm sure he's seeing this as quite a shocking experience." James commented. Jessie glared at the two jokesters; she had enough of the bad electricity puns. "Will you two just be quiet?!" Jessie snapped, causing James and Meowth to nearly jump out of their seats in fear.

After about a few more seconds, the electricity stopped and the claw let go of Ash sending him down onto the ground. May and Pikachu both ran over to him to see him lying on the ground motionless. "Ash? Ash, are you okay? Ash?" May asked, shaking Ash rapidly. Pikachu looked down at his best friend sadly before he looked up at the machine the Rocket Trio were in with one nasty glare on his face.

"(You might try to capture me, but you do not, I repeat, _do not_ do that sort of thing to my best friend and get away with it. I'll make you pay for that, Team Rocket!)" Pikachu yelled, seething with fury and anger. Without any hesitance, he charged towards the machine at full speed and slammed into it, sending it tumbling backwards and landing on its back with a loud thud while the Rocket Trio were sent flying out of their seats and they slammed into the back and slid onto the floor.

"One lesson we should have learned..." James said. "...is not to mess with an angry Pikachu." Meowth finished.

"(You got that right! And this is for putting my friend through all that pain!)" Pikachu snapped, before releasing the strongest bolt of electricity he had ever released at the machine completely electrocuting it while small bolts were sent flying all over the place. As Professor Birch and May watched on with Ash still motionless in her arms, she turned to see her bike suddenly electrocuted into a crisp. "My bike's been barbequed!" she gasped in horror.

Inside the machine, the Rocket Trio were all getting pretty bad electric treatment, but Jessie wasn't fazed at all: as a matter of fact, she had a bright smile on her face. "We haven't been wasting our time after all. It's amazing that Pikachu is the only thing the Boss would want!" Jessie smiled.

"But have we captured..." James started. "...too much of a good thing?" Meowth finished. Wobbuffet suddenly popped out of his Pokeball and blurted "Wobbuffet!"

After about a few moments of electrocution, the machine exploded and the Rocket Trio were sent flying into the air. "Quite a Thunderbolt!" Meowth commented. "It has renewed my energy and passion!" Jessie smiled. The Rocket Trio were then sent flying into the sky and disappeared in a flash.

After the smoke cleared, Pikachu was standing there staring up at the sky where the Rocket Trio went. "(And good riddance! That should teach you a lesson about what happens when you mess with me and Ash!)" Pikachu yelled. Now that his anger had been taken out on the Rocket Trio, Pikachu then turned and ran over to May who was still bent down beside Ash. Pikachu walked over to Ash and nuzzled up against him; he didn't want to think that the worst had happened to him. "(Ash...)" Pikachu whispered, clearly in reasonable worry over his friend.

"It's okay, Pikachu. Ash is just unconscious. Hopefully he'll come to soon." May said, softly smiling at Pikachu. Hearing this, Pikachu sighed from immense relief: he was afraid that he was going to lose his best friend.

That evening back at Professor Birch's Lab, May and Pikachu were keeping a look out on Ash who was lying on a couch in the spare room. "Don't worry, Pikachu. Ash will be all right." May said, rubbing Pikachu's head reassuringly. Sure enough, the two looked down to see Ash slowly open his eyes and sit up, starting to rub his head.

"W-what happened?" Ash asked. He then turned to see Pikachu happily smiling at him, and then the little electric mouse Pokemon jumped into Ash's arms. "Pikachu! I'm so glad you're okay, little buddy." Ash smiled. Pikachu happily nuzzled up against Ash; he was so thrilled to see that his friend was all right. Ash then looked up to see May smiling, and then she came over to sit down beside him. "May? Where are we?" Ash asked, looking around unable to recognize his surroundings due to the electrocution he received earlier.

"We're in Professor Birch's lab. The assistant arrived and helped Professor Birch bring you back here. You've been out for a few hours now." May explained. Ash then suddenly remembered: he climbed up the machine to save Pikachu, and received one really bad shock because of that.

"I'm sorry I put myself in danger like that. It's just that I wasn't going to stand by and let Team Rocket do something like that to Pikachu. I must have really worried you, Pikachu and Professor Birch." Ash said looking down sadly. May simply shook her head, retaining the bright smile she had.

"We're not concerned about that, Ash. The only thing that matters is that you're all right, and that was all we were concerned about." May replied. Ash happily smiled at this: he was glad to hear that no one was upset at him for his risky actions. Just then, the group could hear the sound of footsteps and turned to see Professor Birch come inside.

"So, May, are you ready to choose your first Pokemon?" Professor Birch asked. Ash, May and Pikachu came inside the room where three Pokeballs sat on the desk: those were the three that Professor Birch had earlier. "These Pokeballs contain three beginner Pokemon. First up is Treecko." Professor Birch explained, picking up a Pokeball from the desk and opening it. Out came a light green gecko-like Pokemon with yellow eyes, a red colour on its belly and a dark green tail that curled on the end. "Treecko is a grass type." Professor Birch added. As soon as Treecko looked up at May, she scattered back in fright.

"It's creepy!" May gasped. "No, it's not, May. I think it looks cool." Ash replied.

"This is Mudkip." Professor Birch said, opening another Pokeball on the desk. Out came Mudkip, who tilted its head with a bright smile on its face. "Now that's a water type." Ash commented.

"That Mudkip wouldn't do a thing that I asked it to." May said. "Really? How can that little guy cause trouble?" Ash asked.

"You're really fond of Pokemon, aren't you, Ash?" Professor Birch asked. "Oh, you have no idea, Professor." Ash replied.

"Now I'd like you to meet Torchic. Torchic's a fire type." Professor Birch said, opening the last Pokeball on the desk. Out came a little orange chick Pokemon with yellow feathers and a spiked yellow feather on the top of its head with a smaller orange feather below it. Torchic then hopped towards May and started nuzzling against her legs.

"Look at that, May. Torchic likes you and it's just met you." Ash commented. May nodded in agreement; she noticed as well. She then bent down and picked Torchic up. "Then it's settled. I'm choosing Torchic!" May said.

Professor Birch then showed May six Pokeballs and a Pokedex. "Be sure to take these with you. If you work hard, you could become a better Pokemon trainer than your father." Professor Birch said. "That sounds like a great goal, doesn't it, May?" Ash asked, happily smiling.

"Yeah..." May nervously agreed. She then looked away and commented "I'd give up Pokemon any day of the week just for a free trip around the world." Unfortunately, Professor Birch must have heard her.

"What was that, May?" he asked. May nearly jumped and smiled nervously before saying "I wouldn't trade it for the world!" and laughing nervously.

The next morning, May was glaring at the burnt remains of her bike before she sadly sighed. "This is all Pikachu's fault. I think I'll have a word with Ash." May said, heading off to find where he was. She opened the door to the room where he was sleeping, but then her frown faded when she saw him sleeping peacefully with Pikachu curled up at the end with him. "Maybe I'm being a bit too hard on Ash. He was only trying to save Pikachu." May commented. She then closed the door a little bit as Ash then sat up in his bed letting out a loud yawn. He then looked to see Pikachu at the end waking up as well.

"Good morning, Pikachu. How did you sleep?" Ash asked, not noticing that May was at the door. Pikachu sat up and walked over to Ash. "(Oh, morning, Ash. I slept great.)" Pikachu replied. May then happily smiled as she watched this: she decided that it would be better to cut Ash a break. So she closed the door so she wouldn't interrupt them.

Outside, May released Torchic from her Pokeball and bent down to rub her chin. "Good morning, Torchic." May said with a bright smile. She then looked up to see Ash stepping outside with Pikachu on his shoulder and walked over to him. "Good morning, Ash. How are you feeling?" she asked. Ash turned his gaze to see May and smiled.

"Oh, I feel a lot better. Thanks." Ash said. "That's great news." May replied. Pikachu then jumped off Ash's shoulder and ran over to meet Torchic.

"(Hi there. My name's Pikachu.)" Pikachu said. "(Nice to meet you, Pikachu. I'm Torchic.)" Torchic responded. She then started to run off while Pikachu rushed after her in a game of tag while Ash and May watched on.

"Looks like they're getting along well already. You've made your first friend in Hoenn, Pikachu." Ash commented. May then turned to see the wreck of her bike lying against the wall nearby.

"My poor bike..." May sighed. She then turned away with a smile. "Oh, who cares?" A little later, Ash and May were ready to leave Littleroot Town and Professor Birch and his assistant had come out to see them off.

"You two will have to register for the Hoenn League at the nearest Pokemon Centre you can find." Professor Birch explained. "The closest one that I can think of is in Oldale Town." The assistant added.

May then placed her hands behind her back and looked up like she was thinking about something, while Ash turned his gaze to her. "Walking all that way alone makes me nervous, and not to mention my bike's destroyed, no thanks to Pikachu, Ash." May said. Ash nearly jumped in surprise at this. "There must be a solution: a way to get to Oldale Town safely on foot." May continued. Ash stared at May, wondering where she was getting at with this. "Hey, I know! Why don't we travel together? I happen to know the way to Oldale Town." May suggested with a bright smile on her face. Ash stared with uncertainty wondering if this was a good idea. "Hey, I don't mind at all. It's really no problem. Shall we?" May asked.

"(Sure thing!)" Pikachu immediately agreed. Ash looked at Pikachu before he smiled; if Pikachu was okay with it, he decided that he was okay with it too.

"All right then, May. We'll go together." Ash replied. May then turned away and happily cheered "Yes!" Ash looked at May, wondering why she was so happy about, but he decided to ask her about it later.

"That's a great idea. You can look after one another." Professor Birch said. "And be careful." The assistant added.

"Don't worry, we will." Ash replied. "We'll see you soon!" May said.

With this, Ash and May were on their way out of Littleroot Town and on the route towards Oldale Town. This was the start of a new adventure in Hoenn for both of them, little did they realise in more ways than one.


	2. Ancient Oldale Ruins

**Friends to Lovers**

**Chapter 2: Ancient Oldale Ruins**

On Route 101, Ash and May were on their way to Oldale Town. Ash was walking quite clearly still going good, while May was lagging behind with her arms down in front of her exhausted since they had been walking for a while. Ash then turned to Pikachu who was on his shoulder. "Pikachu, since Oldale Town is so close, you want to race the rest of the way there?" Ash asked. "(Okay!)" Pikachu agreed, a bright smile crossing his face.

"Hey, hold up a minute!" Hearing that voice behind him, Ash stopped in his tracks and turned around to see that May wasn't following him: she had stopped because she was exhausted from walking for so long. "May, is there a problem?" Ash asked. May then stood upright since she lowered herself out of getting tired and started waving her arms as if to get Ash's attention.

"If I knew you'd run the whole way there, I wouldn't have offered you my help!" May called. "What are you talking about, May? I just want to make sure we get there before it gets dark." Ash replied. May stared at Ash with a frown of annoyance on her face, and then she looked to the side with her eyes having gone in the shape of black dots and commented "I did have a bike."

Ash nearly flinched upon hearing this: this was now the second time he was being reminded of a wrecked bike, and the first time was being shoved down his throat like no tomorrow. To avoid this incident from happening again, Ash smiled nervously. "I guess there's no harm in slowing down a little bit." Ash commented. "(Uh, yeah.)" Pikachu agreed, since even though it wasn't directly his fault, he was the one who destroyed May's bike in the first place.

"That's right!" May replied with a smile of satisfaction on her face. With this, the two continued on their way and then Ash turned to see that May had caught up alongside him. "Let's not forget that you also need to keep an eye on me on the way to Oldale Town. You wouldn't want me to end up lost now, would you?" May asked teasingly. Ash couldn't help smiling nervously and then he nodded: since May was just starting, it had to make sense that he had to be the one to keep an eye on her.

As the two continued their way down the route to Oldale Town, May figured that now would be an appropriate time to ask about something she didn't notice until now. "Hey, Ash?" she asked. "Yeah?" Ash asked in response, turning his head to look at her.

"I always thought that Pokemon were supposed to stay inside their Pokeballs, right?" May asked. "Yeah, but Pikachu likes it better staying outside with me. Right, buddy?" Ash replied, looking up at his little Partner Pokemon with a smile. "(That's right!)" Pikachu agreed sharing the same smile as Ash.

May had to admit she was a bit surprised by this, and she grabbed out the Pokeball that Torchic was inside. "I haven't gotten any complaints from Torchic yet." May said. She then realized something that hadn't crossed her mind until now. "Actually, now that I think about it, I barely know anything about Torchic." May added.

"So how about you look Torchic up in your Pokedex?" Ash suggested. May happily smiled and nodded in agreement at this idea, so she grabbed her Pokedex from out of her bag and opened it up, revealing a black screen and two buttons, a large green one on the bottom and a small red one on the top, to look up information on Torchic.

"All right, let's see. Torchic's a fire type and its moves are..." May started to read, but then Ash looked up and noticed something standing in their path.

"May, look at that!" Ash said. "What is it?" May asked, looking up with him. Standing on the path in front of them was a little blue ball-shaped Pokemon with small round white cheeks, big round ears and a long black tail that had a blue sphere on the end. "Wow, what's that?" May asked looking down at her Pokedex to find out what sort of Pokemon this was.

"Azurill, the Water Ball Pokemon. Azurill is able to throw its tail like a lasso using the momentum to move about." The Pokedex explained, with the voice sounding very feminine. Azurill slowly tilted its head to the side wondering what was going on. May immediately brightly smiled; this little one looked so adorable to her.

"Oh, it's so cute! I want it." May smiled, her excitement building up inside her as if she was a little child again. "So why don't you try and catch it?" Ash asked, noticing how excited May was by the sight of this little Azurill.

"All right then, I'll give it a shot!" May replied. With this, she grabbed a Pokeball out from her bag, while Ash watched on in surprise, and then she threw it straight towards Azurill. Ash stared in alarm: that wasn't the proper way to do it. The Pokeball bounced off Azurill's head and opened up, with Azurill going inside. After this, the Pokeball closed and dropped down on the ground starting to shake rapidly with its centre blinking red. "All right! I caught my first Pokemon!" May cheered, thrilled by her success. However, the Pokeball shook rapidly for a few seconds before it opened up again releasing Azurill. May stared in disbelief at this. "Hey! How come it didn't work?" she asked, not able to figure out why Azurill didn't go in.

"I was about to remind you, May. You need to battle the Pokemon first before you try to catch it." Ash explained: he had actually made the same mistake himself and he wanted to make sure that May didn't end up in the same position that he did.

"Oh, that's right. Thanks for reminding me. It's time for my first Pokemon battle!" May replied. She grabbed the Pokeball Torchic was in and threw it. "Let's go, Torchic!" May called. The Pokeball opened and Torchic came out, and then she jumped up into the air as if she was glad to be out of the Pokeball. As May was trying to remember what Torchic's attacks were since she was looking them up earlier, Azurill started to bounce away on its tail and Torchic gave chase. Coming to a tree, Azurill leapt away while Torchic ran into the tree.

"Torchic, are you okay?" May asked. Torchic jumped up on her feet, evidently unhurt by that head-first impact and quickly ran after Azurill as it bounced away using its tail to help it move faster. "Torchic, slow down! Wait for me!" May called as she and Ash quickly rushed after the two Pokemon.

Azurill bounced back and forth in between bushes while Torchic followed in hot pursuit. The two small Pokemon soon came to a small cliff face and Azurill stopped short before bouncing out of the way while Torchic ran head-first into it, leaving her eyes in the shape of swirls and bruises on her face. Since she and Ash now caught up, May bent down and picked up Torchic. "Torchic, don't do anything until I tell you to, okay?" May asked. Torchic looked up at May with her eyes having gone big and watering up, causing May to show an expression of worry. "Torchic, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" she asked, not wanting to see Torchic get upset.

"May, if you don't hurry, Azurill will get away!" Ash said. May then looked up to see Azurill standing there in front of a tree, having stopped bouncing around. Torchic then jumped out of May's arms and ran over, ready to actually start battling with this little runaway.

"All right. Torchic, use Peck!" May called: she was actually able to remember one of Torchic's moves before coming across Azurill. Torchic then leapt forward to start attacking, but Azurill jumped out of the way leaving Torchic to peck rapidly at the tree. "Torchic, Azurill's over there!" May said. Torchic turned her head to see Azurill bouncing away and quickly started to run after it. "Oh, not again. Torchic, come back!" May said as she and Ash gave chase after them. Azurill was hopping away while Torchic gave chase after it. Torchic then leapt out from behind a bush and shot out small blasts of fire from her beak, after which she could suddenly hear Azurill's cries from behind the bush up ahead. Torchic then happily smiled hearing this and ran over to find Azurill lying on the ground knocked out. As Torchic was looking at the downed Water Ball Pokemon, Ash and May both arrived and noticed this as well.

"May, now's your chance to catch Azurill." Ash said. Hearing this, May quickly grabbed out an empty Pokeball from her bag.

"Pokeball, go!" May yelled out before throwing it. The Pokeball bounced off Azurill's head and opened up, causing Azurill to go inside in a bright red light. After that, the Pokeball closed and dropped down on the ground shaking rapidly while its centre blinked red. Ash and May watched on anxiously while Torchic was just wondering what was going on. After a few seconds, the Pokeball stopped shaking and the centre stopped blinking: that meant that May's catch was successful. May stared in disbelief wondering if she was really seeing this while Ash brightly smiled, happy for May.

"May, you did it! You caught your first Pokemon!" Ash cheered. "(Great job!)" Pikachu added.

May slowly walked over and picked up the Pokeball, staring at it for a few moments still unable to register the fact that she actually succeeded in catching a Pokemon. "You're right..." she said to herself, realising that Ash wasn't kidding: she actually pulled it off. A little later, May opened the Pokeball to let Azurill out. Azurill bounced to look around for a few moments before she looked up at Ash and May. The little Pokemon and May stared at each other in silence, uncertain of what to do first.

"May, aren't you going to say hello?" Ash asked noticing May staring blankly at Azurill, which caused her to turned her glance to him. "Well, I would, but...I really don't have any idea on what to say. How am I supposed to talk to a Pokemon I just caught?" May asked in response.

"How about I give it a try first?" Ash suggested. With that he walked over to Azurill and bent down so he was close to her height while Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, and Azurill bounced in Ash's direction and looked up at him. "Hi there. Nice to meet you, Azurill." Ash said. Azurill then bounced backwards and started shaking in fear: it seemed that she was a bit frightened by Ash. Ash looked at Azurill in surprise before he gently smiled. "It's okay, Azurill. You don't need to be scared. I won't hurt you, I promise." Ash softly explained. Azurill hopped forward a little bit hearing Ash's words and, seeing that he didn't mean any harm to her, brightly smiled before bouncing over. "Now that's more like it. My name's Ash and this is my friend, Pikachu." Ash said, turning to Pikachu who happily ran over to meet Azurill.

"(Hey there, Azurill. My name's Pikachu.)" Pikachu said. "(Hi. It's nice to meet you.)" Azurill replied, her smile growing bigger now that she felt more relaxed and confident.

May was watching this all the while, and she had to admit that she was impressed by Ash's successful efforts of befriending the new arrival on the team. "Ash really knows what he's doing." she commented, and she couldn't help but wonder if Ash had done things like this before since he seemed to be fully aware of what he was doing. She then walked over to see Azurill and bent down so she was close to the little Pokemon's height. "Hi there, Azurill. I'm May." May said. Azurill looked up at May and then shot a small blast of water from her mouth at May's face. After Azurill stopped, May was soaked; this was now the second time that she had been hit by a water type attack. May immediately shook herself off and glared at Azurill. "What did you do that for?! I didn't ask you for an attack!" she snapped. Azurill jumped back from fright at May's outburst and then she looked down with tears building up in her eyes.

"May, you're scaring Azurill. I think it was just trying to say hello to you." Ash said. May's frown faded upon hearing this and then she looked back down at Azurill who was about ready to start crying. Realising that she shouldn't have responded that way, May showed a small smile and bent back down to Azurill's height. "I'm sorry for yelling at you like that, Azurill. It's just that I'm not very comfortable towards Pokemon at the moment, so I might take a while to get used to them. You're not upset at me, are you?" May asked, gently stroking Azurill's head to try and calm her down. Azurill happily smiled as if she was saying that she wasn't upset at May for her outburst and then happily jumped into May's arms. "Well, that's good to know. You need to go back into your Pokeball now." May commented as she grabbed Azurill's Pokeball out of her bag and held it up to put Azurill back in. But Azurill jumped out of May's arms and landed safely on the ground before starting to bounce off ahead. "Now what's gotten into you, Azurill?" May asked, placing her arms on her hips in puzzlement.

"I think Azurill wants to stay outside and be with you for a little." Ash suggested. Hearing that comment, May looked down at Azurill to figure out if that was true. Azurill happily smiled and nodded in agreement before bouncing up in the air a few times using her tail to help her. May lowered her head to think for a few moments before she smiled and nodded.

"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with that. You can stay out for a little. Just make you stay with us, okay?" May asked, bending down to Azurill. Azurill happily smiled and nodded in agreement. Sometime later, Ash and May continued their way down the road with Azurill bouncing alongside them. The two looked down at the Water Ball Pokemon that was hopping beside them. "Azurill sure is cute, huh?" May asked.

"Yeah." Ash agreed nodding. He then turned his head to May and found that he wasn't able to take his eyes off her; he wasn't sure what it was or why he was acting like this, but it was as if she had caught his attention. After a few moments, May turned her head to Ash and happily smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. This was almost like what happened when they met on the route leading to Littleroot Town: it was only the two of them and no one was there to interrupt them. In fact, Ash didn't even notice Pikachu staring at the two with a smile on his face, like he was noticing that something was up as well. As the two brightly smiled at each other, Ash looked up to notice something up ahead and an expression of intrigue crossed his face. "Hey, look at that." Ash said. May looked up with him to see what it was: just up ahead of them was a pile of brick walls still standing surrounded by several stone pillars circled around them. "What do you think that is?" Ash asked as he and May stopped to look at the odd sight.

"It looks like it might be some old buildings." May replied. "(Yeah...)" Pikachu agreed nodding slowly; he hadn't seen something that looked this strange before. Though coming across odd discoveries seemed to be a thing for him and Ash, this discovery seemed to be something different.

"Well actually, these are the ruins of Oldale." Ash and May glanced up to see that a young man with short dark brown spiked hair wearing a yellow research outfit with a belt around the waist had walked over. "I'm Professor Alden, and I'm here investigating these ruins." The man explained.

"Hi, my name's Ash." Ash replied. "(I'm Pikachu, Ash's partner Pokemon.)" Pikachu said. "And I'm May. Nice to meet you." May added.

"It's nice to meet you two. Where are you off to?" Professor Alden asked. "We're looking for the Pokemon Centre." Ash replied. Professor Alden turned around and looked down where a hill was with a smile. "Well, you don't have too far to go. The Pokemon Centre's just over this hill." Professor Alden said. Ash and May both brightly smiled: that meant that they only had a short distance away.

"That's great. Thanks." Ash said. "Thank you." May added. With this, the two continued their way while Professor Alden watched on. Arriving at the bottom of the hill with evening slowly coming their way, Ash and May soon came to a big white building that had two stories with a big square on the top that had a big red P symbol that stood for Pokemon and there was also what looked like a plus sign on the top.

"So this is what a Pokemon Centre looks like?" May asked. "Yeah, this is the place. Trainers come here to rest as well as have their Pokemon treated while training. Come on, I'll show you inside." Ash responded, nodding in agreement. With this, he stepped inside with the automated door opening up and May followed behind him. A bright smile of surprise crossed May's face as she looked around: there were little round lights being held by long wires as well as potted plants placed around the walls. She then turned to notice someone at the front desk: it was a young woman with bright blue eyes and her red hair tied up in the shape of ringlets wearing a pink dress with a long white apron on top as well as small white shoes and a white nurse hat with a red symbol like on the front of the Pokemon Centre building.

"Ash, who's that at the desk?" May asked, tugging on one of Ash's sweatshirt sleeves to get his attention and pointing at the front desk. Ash turned to see who she was talking about and he brightly smiled before looking back at May. "That's Nurse Joy. She takes care of the Pokemon that are brought in here. And don't worry about charge costs: Nurse Joy's services are free, so Trainers can see her at anytime so she can look after their Pokemon." Ash explained. May sighed in relief: for a minute, she was scared that she would have to pay if she wanted to have her Pokemon treated.

Azurill, who had been looking around the inside intently, started bouncing up and down: she was feeling ready to do some bouncing around after standing still for so long. With this, using her tail to help her, she started hopping around the room while Ash and May turned to see this and stared in shock. "Azurill, stop that! You're going to break something!" May warned. Seeming to not pay any attention to her Trainer's words, Azurill happily bounced around the room fortunately avoiding the potted plants much to the two trainers' relief before hopping up onto the front desk surprising Nurse Joy.

"Oh! Why, hello little one. It's quite a surprise to see you." Nurse Joy commented, looking down at the little Water Ball Pokemon happily hopping up and down with a bright smile on her face. Azurill then turned around to Ash and May quickly coming over towards the front desk and May picked her up from the desk, and she looked down at Azurill with a frown on her desk.

"Azurill, don't do that. You could have knocked something over." May scolded. Azurill looked down sadly with her eyes growing bigger in size. May then looked up at Nurse Joy, her frown being replaced with an expression of concern. "I'm sorry about all of that, Nurse Joy. It's just that Azurill likes to bounce around everywhere." May explained, clearly hoping that Nurse Joy wasn't upset.

"It's all right. That just means that it's very active. You must take really good care of your Azurill." Nurse Joy replied. "Well, to be honest, I just caught this Azurill, so..." May commented showing a nervous smile while rubbing the back of her head with her spare hand. Ash couldn't help himself smiling as he watched this, and then he looked up at Nurse Joy.

"Nurse Joy, could you check to see how Pikachu is feeling?" Ash asked, taking Pikachu off his shoulder and placing him down on the front desk. "Certainly. Would you like to have your Pokemon taken care of too?" Nurse Joy asked, picking Pikachu up and then turning to May while asking that question. May looked down with uncertainty, so she turned to Ash to see him showing her a smile and, knowing that he knew what he was talking about, looking back at Nurse Joy and nodded before grabbing the Pokeballs that Torchic and Azurill were in out of her bag, returning Azurill into her Pokeball and handed them to Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy then placed the Pokeballs in two empty sockets in a machine behind her.

While Ash and May were both waiting patiently for their Pokemon, May turned to Ash: she still looked a little bit uncertain about all of this. "Ash, are you sure Nurse Joy knows what she's doing?" she asked, with an expression of concern on her face. Ash turned his gaze to May to see that she still looked a bit worried, and then he showed her a soft smile and turned to May. "May, I can safely assure you that you don't need to worry. Torchic and Azurill will both be safe in Nurse Joy's care: she has to take care of a lot of Pokemon that are injured, so I'm sure that everything will be all right." Ash explained. Hearing this, May's expression of concern faded being replaced with a smile and nodded; she knew that she could trust Ash. Sure enough, Nurse Joy turned to the two with May's Pokeballs and Pikachu.

"Here you are, you two. Your Pokemon are in perfect condition." Nurse Joy said. Pikachu happily jumped up onto Ash's shoulder and the two friends looked at each other. "That's great to hear, isn't it?" Ash asked. Pikachu immediately nodded in agreement.

May got both of her Pokeballs and threw them up in the air, causing them to open and release both Torchic and Azurill. "How are you two feeling?" May asked. "(I feel great!)" Torchic replied, jumping up into the air with a bright smile on her face. "(Me too. I don't think I've felt this good for a while.)" Azurill agreed. May brightly smiled hearing this from the two; she was glad to hear that they were in good condition, and that meant that Ash was right about Nurse Joy.

"I think a good night's sleep would do you two some good." Nurse Joy suggested. "Yeah." Ash and May agreed in unison. May turned her head to see that there was a small shelf of books beside her, so she walked over to see what there was and noticed that there was a guidebook of the Hoenn Region. May picked it up and flipped through the pages to see that there was information on each town and city of the region as well as places of interest. Figuring that maybe she might need it later, May opened up her bag and placed the guidebook in it. She then turned around and walked back over to Ash.

"Hey, Ash?" she asked. "Yeah, what's up?" Ash asked in response, turning to see May standing there behind him with both her hands behind her back like there was something she wanted to ask him. Sure enough, May did have a question for Ash.

"Well, I was thinking. Now that I'm in a Pokemon Centre, could you show me around?" May asked. "Yeah, of course. But I need to call to someone first before I do." Ash replied. Soon the two were at a row of computers that also had in-built phone systems to keep in touch with others. Ash was sitting in the seat with Pikachu on his lap while May stood beside him looking down at the screen.

"Hey, Professor Oak. I just now got into Oldale Town." Ash said. On the screen, Professor Oak was answering the call from his research lab back in Pallet Town all the way back in Kanto. "That's wonderful, Ash. It's always nice to hear from you." Professor Oak replied. May was watching the screen in surprise and then a bright smile crossed her face when she saw Professor Oak on the screen.

"I've just finished registering for the Hoenn League, so now I'm ready to go and get my first badge." Ash added. "It sounds to me like the start of another big adventure for you, young man." Professor Oak commented. "That's right!" May replied. Professor Oak's expression changed to surprise wondering who said that, so Ash got out of the seat while May hopped on so she could have her say.

"Hi there. We haven't been introduced yet, but my name's May. I'm travelling with Ash." May said. "Well, hello May! I'm Professor Oak from Pallet Town: it's nice to meet you." Professor Oak replied. May then leaned closer to the screen while Ash watched on in confusion.

"I know you. My brother never misses any of your radio lectures. And when he finds out that I got to talk you, he'll be extremely jealous!" May explained. She then showed a determined smile and added "Of course, I know that I'm only a beginning Trainer, but I promise that I'll work hard and do my best!" Ash couldn't help but smile hearing May's determination: it reminded him a lot of how he acted when he was starting his journey.

"Well, May, with Ash by your side I'm sure that you'll do very well." Professor Oak replied. May looked over at Ash showing her bright smile and he couldn't help himself smiling back. "And before I forget, there's someone who would like to see you, Ash." Professor Oak added. Ash sat back down on the seat upon hearing that. "Who's that?" he asked. His reply was given when the transfer machine behind him and May showed a Pokeball inside it. The two walked over at the machine and Ash picked the Pokeball up and threw it into the air, causing it to open and release a small Pokemon with light green skin, dark red eyes with small black marks underneath, a pointed head and a red shape on its belly with small black square marks around its body. The little Pokemon started looking around wondering it was, while Ash brightly smiled as he recognized who it was.

"Larvitar!" he said. Larvitar turned around wondering who said that and looked up to see Ash, to which it brightly smiled and started happily clapping before running over and jumping up into Ash's arms. "Hey, Larvitar. I didn't think I'd see you again." Ash commented standing up as he held the little Pokemon. Larvitar continued clapping clearly happy to be with Ash again. Staring at Larvitar in intrigue, May grabbed out her Pokedex to learn more.

"Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokemon. Larvitar generally hatch deep within the earth and take a long time before coming to the surface." The Pokedex explained. May then looked up at Larvitar sitting comfortably in Ash's arms and walked over to see it, to which it turned around to notice the brunette. "Hi there, Larvitar. My name's May." May said. Larvitar stared at May in silence for a few moments before freezing up much to May's surprise. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked wondering what had gotten into the Rock Skin Pokemon.

"Larvitar doesn't really like anyone but me, so it hardens up when it meets someone it doesn't know or meets for the first time." Ash explained. May couldn't help but show a small frown and cross her arms: that seemed a bit upsetting that Larvitar didn't take a likeness to anyone but Ash. "Larvitar, how come you're here?" Ash asked, suddenly realising that he didn't give it much thought until now.

"Well, not too long after you left, Larvitar started to miss you. So Ranger Mason decided to transport Larvitar here so it could see you." Professor Oak explained. Ash nearly jumped as one thought immediately crossed his mind. "Was Tyranitar okay with it? I mean, after going through all the trouble to bring Larvitar back, I don't think that Tyranitar would want Larvitar to leave again." Ash said.

"After Ranger Mason explained everything, Tyranitar understood that Larvitar was ready to go out on its own." Professor Oak replied. Ash smiled in relief at this and looked down at Larvitar. "Well, since you're here, would you like to come along with me on my adventure through Hoenn?" Ash asked. Larvitar smiled and immediately nodded, clearly excited about being able to travel with Ash again.

"I also wish you two a safe and successful journey." Professor Oak added. "Thanks!" Ash and May replied in unison. "(Thank you, Professor!)" Pikachu added with a bright smile on his face. With this the screen turned off and Ash turned to May, while she looked at him as well.

"So, May, should we get started on that Pokemon Centre tour?" Ash asked. May brightly smiled and nodded in agreement, so the two stood up, with Pikachu jumping back up onto Ash's shoulder, and started to walk down the hallway.

Meanwhile outside, the Rocket Trio had crammed themselves into a phone booth and were calling Giovanni to let him know where they were. "What? You're in the Hoenn Region?" Giovanni asked. Inside the phone booth, the Rocket Trio had managed to stuff inside: Jessie and James were on either side, Wobbuffet, who had _yet again_ come out when he wasn't needed, was standing in between them and Meowth had climbed up on top of him while James held the phone towards Meowth.

"That's right: still hot on the trail for that rare Pikachu so that one day that Pikachu will finally be all yours." Jessie replied. "And now that we've tracked them down, we're ever so close to the capture!" James added. "Cause when it comes to the honour of Team Rocket, there's nothing we wouldn't do for you." Meowth explained.

"Well, considering that you've taken the time to call me on my private line, I assume you have some good news, yes?" Giovanni asked. On their end of the line, the Rocket Trio started to look quite nervous.

"Well, the thing is..." Jessie started nervously. "Good detective work doesn't come cheaply, so our cash reserves are a bit low." James explained. "Could we... get an advance?" Meowth asked.

"No!" The Rocket Trio nearly jumped at the sudden harsh tone in that response. "You will not receive any more funds!" The Rocket Trio then sighed in dismay: that meant that they were going to be in some real trouble. "However, I do have an opportunity for you." Giovanni added, suddenly sounding less harsh.

"Opportunity?" The Rocket Trio asked in unison, their expressions changing to surprise at the mention of this. "Although Team Rocket are branched internationally, we haven't been able to set up operations in the Hoenn Region yet. So if you three are able to accomplish this, that's when we can talk money." Giovanni explained. After this, he hung up. Back on their end of the line, the Rocket Trio were starting to smile thrilled by what they were just told. "We're going to start a branch office?" they asked in unison.

"Oh, it's an order from the Boss himself to achieve true greatness!" Jessie smiled, her eyes going wide from excitement. "He's practically saying that we're next in line to take over Team Rocket!" James added. "All those harsh long years of struggling were worth it because..." Meowth said. The three then cheered and said "We got a promotion!" Wobbuffet then popped up in front of them and blurted "Wobbuffet!"

Back inside the Pokemon Centre, Ash opened a door to show May what looked like a bedroom. "This room is where the Trainers sleep." Ash explained. May looked inside to see that there were two bunkbeds on either side of the room, a bedside table in the middle of the room between the beds with a small lamp on it and a window on the wall so they could see outside.

"Wow. It doesn't look too shabby." May commented. The two then came out to a larger area of the Pokemon Centre where they could see a group of Trainers on the seats talking to each other. "This area is the Lobby. Here, the Trainers who stay here meet up to share information." Ash explained.

"Really? You mean like where the malls are and the best places to eat and the best clothing shops and things like that?" May asked with a bright smile immediately crossing her face. Ash smiled nervously hearing May's near-endless question. "Well, not exactly. They're all talking about Pokemon and things like that." Ash replied.

"I've heard that there's a new Gym Leader at the Petalburg Gym." Hearing that voice, Ash and May both turned their heads to see that it was from a young man talking to a woman around his age sitting beside him. "Are you sure?" The woman asked. Ash then smiled in excitement and immediately ran over to find out about this while May watched him in surprise.

"Excuse me. Could you tell me who the new Gym Leader is?" Ash asked. May nearly jumped as she listened to this, so she immediately scattered over and grabbed Ash's hand pulling him back towards her showing a nervous smile. "May, what are you doing?! I'm trying to find something out!" Ash said, staring at May with some annoyance.

"Can't you tell that I'm starving? Let's go get something to eat." May suggested. Ash was still a bit puzzled, but regardless he nodded in agreement. So the two headed off to the tables to have some dinner. Once they got to a safe enough distance from the lobby, May quietly sighed in relief: if Ash found out who the Gym Leader was, she could probably get in big trouble. Soon the two were sitting at a table with their Pokemon eating dinner: Ash and May both had rice curries, Pikachu was sitting beside Ash with a bottle of ketchup and Torchic, Azurill and Larvitar were beside the table munching on bowls full of Pokemon food.

"You know, these Pokemon Centres are great. They have everything you could ever need in one place!" May commented with her mouth full of rice curry. "Well, don't forget that they're here for the Trainers so they can rest in between heavy training." Ash replied.

"But you're getting ready for heavy training and I'm training as well, right?" May asked. "Well, when you put it that way..." Ash replied, nodding in agreement.

"The two weary travellers. Glad you made it safely." Someone coming up to see them holding a tray with his own food on it said. Ash and May both looked up to see that it was Professor Alden.

A few miles outside of the Pokemon Centre, a large hole was being dug in the ground: the Rocket Trio was inside digging a tunnel. Holding a bucket, Wobbuffet was scooping up piles of dirt and throwing them over his shoulder outside the hole. James and Meowth were both being distracted by the scent of food coming from inside the building. "Something smells really good." Meowth commented. "Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread-sticks on the side." James added, being able to recognise what the food was.

"Snap out of it!" The two then opened their eyes, clearly brought out of their own thoughts, and looked to find that Jessie was the one who said that: she was busy digging with her own shovel. "Work on being a good thief, not a restaurant critic." Jessie suggested.

"Oh, right. Thanks." James replied. "As soon as we set up a Team Rocket shop in the Hoenn Region, we're number one!" Meowth said. James then remembered something that had crossed his mind and then turned to Meowth.

"But since we're the only members of Team Rocket in Hoenn, we already are number one, aren't we?" James asked. "Sweet thinking, James!" Meowth commented, a bright smile on his face while James showed an equally bright smile clearly thrilled by what he just realised.

"If you two lazy good-for-nothings take that sort of attitude, Butch and Cassidy will just slide on in and take over!" Jessie retorted, prompting both James and Meowth to turn to her. Butch and Cassidy were both members of Team Rocket as well, but the Rocket Trio saw them as a hurdle to overcome in their plans, especially since they had run into the two a few times before in both Kanto and the Orange Islands.

"Jessie's right. Those no-good crooks." Meowth agreed. "Jessie dear, you're so good with those morale pep talks." James commented. Jessie stared at James in surprise at the compliment, before she smiled and nodded in agreement. With this, the Rocket Trio resumed their digging, singing to motivate themselves while Wobbuffet was dancing behind them.

Meanwhile, Ash and May were with Professor Alden in one of the back rooms which he had made to be his research lab and Ash was looking at a picture of the ruins he and May saw earlier up on the wall. "Professor, are those the same ruins we saw when we were up on that hill?" Ash asked, just to be certain that he was right.

"Yes, they are. And lucky for me, the Pokemon Centre has been generous enough to give me the usage of this room while I continue my research on those ruins. You know, there's a stone chamber within the ruins and legend has it that it's a sort of bridge between our world and the ancient Pokemon world." Professor Alden explained.

"Wow..." May whispered: she found that she was surprisingly awestruck by all of this information. "But because of its strange construction, any attempts to enter the chamber have caused it to begin to crumble. So the contents of the chamber remain unknown." Professor Alden added. Ash had turned his attention back to the picture of the ruins, so he looked over at Professor Alden.

"What do you mean by ancient Pokemon?" Ash asked. "(Yeah, what does that mean?)" Pikachu agreed, being held in Ash's arms all the while.

"Well, I'm not talking about extinct fossil Pokemon like Aerodactyl and Kabuto. I'm talking about ancient Pokemon that have been living since ancient times without changing at all." Professor Alden replied.

"Wow, how cool is that?" Ash commented. "Most of the details about ancient Pokemon such as where they lived and how they lived are still a mystery to the world. I guess it's all that mystery that makes it so fascinating." Professor Alden explained.

"There might be more to Pokemon that I thought." May commented: she was genuinely interested in everything that she was hearing, and she found that she actually liked it. Ash looked back at the picture of the ruins while May looked at it with him. "Ancient Pokemon... Can you imagine how great it would be if we could actually meet one?" Ash asked, turning his gaze to May. May found that she was actually nodding in agreement: here she was saying that she wasn't fond of Pokemon, yet she was now so drawn into the fascination of Pokemon like that existing.

"You might just get your chance, you two." Professor Alden said. Ash and May both turned to him, wondering what he was talking about. "The way to enter the chamber is written on this tablet." Professor Alden explained, showing the two a brown tablet with some unintelligible writing on it as well as what looked like a carving of the ruins on the top.

"No way!" Ash gasped, a bright smile immediately crossing his and May's faces. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" May said.

"Well, there are four keys to enter that haven't been found yet. So we'll have to wait just a little bit longer." Professor Alden replied. Little did the group realise that they were being watched: just outside spying on them from a bush were a group wearing red outfits that had a big M symbol on them.

"I hope we find those four keys soon." Ash commented. The sooner they found those keys, the sooner they could enter the ruins. Just then, the lights went out much to the group's surprise as they looked up at the now gone out lights. "What happened? Are we having a blackout?" May asked. The three then looked to see a group of who looked like thugs wearing red outfits with Houndoom wearing gold armour.

"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Alden asked. The Houndoom were growling while the thugs stood there with sinister smiles.

"Who are those guys?" May asked, her expression of confusion immediately changing to worry. Without any hesitance, Ash stepped in front of May and spread one arm out in front of her: he wanted to make sure she was safe in case these guys had any business with them.

"Professor Alden, we would like you to accompany us on a little journey to the Oldale Ruins." One of the thugs, a male, explained. "I will not!" Professor Alden retorted. Ash stood there with a determined expression, with his arm still out in front of May to protect her. Just then, the group could see Nurse Joy come over holding a flashlight.

"I'm sorry, Professor Alden. When the power went out..." Before Nurse Joy could continue her sentence, she gasped in surprise to see the group of thugs and was about to run when another thug came from behind her and grabbed her by the arm to hold her back.

"Well now, Professor. Would you like to change your mind?" The thug, clearly the leader of the group, asked. Professor Alden was hesitant for a few moments before he replied "All right. I'll go with you, then."

A little later, Ash, May and Nurse Joy were thrown into a storage room. "Hey, let us out of here!" Ash yelled, pounding on the door even though it was locked from the outside which meant that they couldn't get out. "What do you think they want?" May asked standing up on her feet after being thrown in like that.

"To get inside the chamber, I'll bet." Nurse Joy replied. "Nurse Joy, do you know those people?" Ash asked, turning to her.

"No, I don't. But I'm sure that they're the ones who caused that blackout by cutting off the power here." Nurse Joy responded. Upon hearing her words, she then gasped at what this meant. "And that means that all of the Pokemon being treated here are in danger!" she added.

"Well, what are we going to do?" May asked. "We'll have to turn on the reserve power right away." Nurse Joy said. "We need to figure out how to get out of here first." Ash added.

"(Ash!)" Ash, May and Nurse Joy turned to see that Pikachu was pointing to an air shaft that had a cover on it. "(We can go through this way.)" Pikachu explained. It quickly made sense to Ash: if they went through the air shaft, they could head back to the front desk and turn on the reserve power.

"Pikachu, that's great!" Ash smiled. Pikachu showed a happy smile, glad that he could help out his friend.

Outside, the Rocket Trio poked their heads out from their finished tunnel. "Tunnel complete!" They cheered... only to realise that they had surfaced just a few centimetres outside of the Pokemon Centre. "Okay, so I was off by a smidge." Meowth commented. Hearing growling, the Rocket Trio turned their heads to see the group of thugs with their Houndoom out and Professor Alden in custody.

"Would you mind telling me what you're doing here?" The leader of the group asked. The Rocket Trio then smiled, clearly not intimidated by this group that they had never seen before.

"We're doing whatever we want to do." Jessie replied. "You're looking at this region's top Team Rocketeers!" James added. "Prepare for trouble and make it double and all that jazz!" Meowth finished.

With this, Jessie and James sent out their powerhouses that they had since Kanto: Arbok and Weezing. However, the Houndoom suddenly barking frightened the two so much that they returned themselves into their Pokeballs. Jessie and James both stared at their Pokeballs wondering what had gotten into them, until they looked up to see how threatening the Houndoom actually looked. The Rocket Trio stepped back in fear and then immediately jumped back into the hole they dug. "We…must have taken a wrong turn." Jessie commented. "Sorry for the confusion, boys." James added. "Bye now!" Meowth said before the Rocket Trio headed down into the tunnel going back the way they came.

Back inside the Pokemon Centre at the storage room, Nurse Joy was waiting anxiously: Ash had already gone into the air shaft with Pikachu following beside him. As Ash was crawling through the small tunnel, he suddenly heard someone call behind him. "Ash, slow down." Ash turned his head to notice that May was following right behind him.

"May, why are you coming?" Ash asked. "Why would I miss out?" May asked in response. Ash was silent before he figured to let May come along: he could use her help right now. The two continued their way through the air shaft until they came to a splitting tunnel leading two ways.

"Now which way do we go?" Ash asked as he and May looked down both routes, uncertain of which way to take. Pikachu's ears started to twitch and he pointed down the left route. He then ran off ahead and, after stopping to look around, pointed to the left again. "(Guys, this way!)" Pikachu called, happily smiling as he figured out their route. Ash and May both crawled over and bright smiles immediately crossed their faces when they saw that the way out just up ahead.

"There's the exit!" Ash noticed. "Wow. Pikachu is pretty smart." May commented.

Ash then busted the front grate off and he, Pikachu and May crawled out of the air shaft now at the front entrance. Ash reached behind the front desk to grab a key while May went to turn the reserve power on. "Here's the Master Key Nurse Joy was talking about." Ash said. Just then, he looked up to see that the lights had come back on and he turned to see May run over to the desk.

"The reserve power's on." May confirmed. "That's great. Thanks, May." Ash replied. The two then ran to the storage room to open the door and get Nurse Joy out. "Will you be okay, Nurse Joy?" Ask asked.

"Yes, I will." Nurse Joy replied. "Great. We're going to go help Professor Alden." Ash said. With this, he and May quickly rushed out of the Pokemon Centre to make their way to the Oldale Ruins where they were certain Professor Alden was taken.

Sure enough at the Oldale Ruins, the group of thugs had arrived with Professor Alden. "What is the meaning of this? Why did you bring me here?" Professor Alden asked. "Why do you think? We brought you here so you could help us get access to the stone chamber." The leader of the group responded. Professor Alden turned to see the entrance of the chamber behind him and then he looked back at the leader.

"If we try to force our way in, the chamber will collapse." Professor Alden said. "But you yourself said that the way in is written on this little tablet, is that right, Professor?" The leader asked, holding up the stone tablet that Professor Alden was holding earlier.

"That's true, but I also said that I need to have the four treasures as keys." Professor Alden replied. With this, another member of the group showed a small case of four stones of different colours inside: one green, one yellow, one red and one blue. "What?! Where did you get them?" Professor Alden asked, reasonably shocked by the fact that the keys were here.

"You see, we have friends in high places. The only thing left to do is find out which key goes in which hole and you will help us with that." The group leader explained. "I will not!" Professor Alden retorted.

"We won't let you get into the chamber!" Hearing that voice, Professor Alden and the group of thugs turned to see Ash and May running over, with Pikachu sitting on Ash's shoulder like always: Ash was the one who yelled that out as they got closer to the ruins.

"Don't worry, Professor Alden! We're on our way!" Ash called. "You guys better let him go or you'll be sorry!" May warned. The two then stopped running as they approached the group of thugs.

"Do you two kids really think you can stop us?" The leader asked. After a few moments to catch his breath, Ash looked up with an expression of determination on his face.

"We aren't just kids. We're Pokemon Trainers. And we won't be afraid to let you know where you stand, especially when you try to get away with things like this. We'll stop you from getting into that chamber ourselves!" Ash called, pointing to the thugs with complete fearlessness. "(That's right! You'll regret messing with us!)" Pikachu agreed showing the same determination as Ash. May stared at Ash with a loss of words: she was immensely impressed by just how unafraid of these guys Ash was. She then turned to the thugs, figuring that maybe she should say something as well. "To be honest, I may only just be starting as a Trainer, but I won't be afraid to take you on if I have to!" May yelled out.

"Well then, let's see what you've got." The leader replied. With this, two of the members threw their Pokeballs out, causing them to open and release the Houndooms wearing golden armour that were out in the Pokemon Centre.

"You ready, Pikachu? Let's go!" Ash said, turning to his partner. Pikachu nodded in agreement and he immediately jumped off Ash's shoulder landing safely on the ground. Ash then turned to May noticing that she wasn't certain on who to send out. "May, get Azurill out here. Since Houndoom are part fire type, Water Gun will be effective against them." Ash suggested.

"Okay." May replied nodding. With this, she grabbed the Pokeball that had Azurill in it out of her bag. "Azurill, I choose you!" May called as she threw the Pokeball. It opened and released Azurill showing a bright smile, who bounced on the ground once and landed beside Pikachu ready for her first battle.

"You have those little Pokemon? Do you really believe they would stand a chance?" The group leader asked. Pikachu glared at the Houndoom with his cheeks sparking with electricity while Azurill showed a determined expression: she had a lot more power underneath her adorable exterior.

"Well, you're clearly underestimating how strong our Pokemon can be. Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash replied. Pikachu then charged forward towards one of the Houndoom, jumping out of the way of a strong blast of fire sent in his direction from the Houndoom's mouth, and slammed into the Houndoom sending it stumbling backwards. May watched on in silence for a few seconds before she registered that she should actually do something as well.

"All right, guess it's my turn. Azurill, use Water Gun!" May called. Azurill bounced forward and shot out a strong blast of water from her mouth at the other Houndoom, completely soaking it and causing it to stare in disbelief. May then brightly smiled seeing that she was actually being successful at a battle. "All right! This is actually better than I thought it would be!" she cheered. Azurill bounced up in the air, thrilled that she was battling successfully.

Not too far away hiding behind a toppled over pillar, the Rocket Trio were watching this scene on after going back through their tunnel. "Are you seeing this?" Jessie asked. "Crystal clear, dear." James replied. Meowth turned his gaze and he immediately smiled when he noticed something of his interest.

"Hey, check that out!" Meowth said, pointing in the direction he was looking in. Jessie and James both turned to see what he found and noticed the case with the four treasures inside. The three then started to smile sneakily, knowing what exactly they would do.

Back on the battle scene, Ash and May were both busy taking on the group of thugs. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said. Pikachu jumped up in the air and released a strong bolt of electricity at the Houndoom. Unfortunately, the armour they were wearing reflected the electricity causing the bolts to fly all over the place. "Look out, you two!" Ash warned. Pikachu's eyes went wide in panic and he quickly started to run out of the way as the bolts struck the ground while Azurill bounced out of the way.

"Azurill, be careful! You could get electrocuted!" May called. Just then, she and Ash looked up to see a helicopter slowly descend onto the ground. The thugs turned to notice and the leader of the group turned to the others.

"We no longer have business here. Let's pull out." The leader said. The group nodded in agreement and then they turned and started to climb on board the helicopter. As the leader climbed on, he turned to Ash and May who were wondering what was going on. "This won't be the last time you see us. Team Magma will achieve their plans, one way or another." The leader explained, before closing the door and the helicopter lifted up into the air before flying away. Ash and May watched before they looked down to see Professor Alden watching the helicopter leave and ran over to him.

"Professor!" Ash called. Professor Alden turned to see Ash and May and brightly smiled. "Are you okay?" May asked, with an expression of concern.

"Yeah, I'm just fine." Professor Alden replied. Ash and May both smiled in relief at this, and then Ash looked up at the direction the helicopter went. "Who were those guys? They said their name was Team Magma..." Ash said to himself. He then decided not to let it bother him and turned to May. "May, I've got to say that for your first battle, that was actually pretty impressive. We sure managed to teach those guys a lesson." Ash commented. Pikachu happily nodded in agreement.

"Wow, you think so? Thanks." May replied, looking down shyly with a bright smile. Meanwhile, the Rocket Trio poked their heads out from their hiding place: while everyone's backs were turned during the battle, they had managed to sneak over and grab the four treasures for themselves. "Just look what the Meowth dragged in: four shiny new treasures!" Meowth commented.

Wobbuffet suddenly popped out of his Pokeball and blurted "Wobbuffet!" a little too loudly for his own good. Ash, May and Professor Alden turned their heads to see the Rocket Trio while they were busy trying to get Wobbuffet to keep his mouth shut. "You guys?" Ash asked, reasonably surprised to see them since they weren't anywhere in sight until now.

"Hey! You give back those treasures!" Professor Alden yelled. In response, Jessie grabbed out a Pokeball and threw it, causing it to open and release Arbok. May then stepped forward much to Ash's surprise: she figured she could give this a shot.

"I'll take care of this. Azurill, use Water Gun!" May said. Azurill shot a strong blast of water from her mouth straight at Arbok, sending Arbok flying backwards and slamming into the Rocket Trio causing them to drop the treasures which landed on the ground. Seeing that they were now distracted, Ash then decided to step in.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu released a strong bolt of electricity, shocking the Rocket Trio and sending them flying into the night sky. Once they were gone, Ash turned to May. "May, I didn't expect you to step in. That was pretty good." he commented. May brightly smiled while her cheeks started to glow red.

Professor Alden bent down and picked up the four treasures, after which he looked up at the two. "So, are you two ready to enter the chamber?" he asked. Ash and May both nodded in agreement: that was what they were looking forward to since they learnt about them. With this, the three walked over to the door where Professor Alden placed the treasures in the right holes. After a few seconds, the treasures started to glow brightly in their certain colour and the door slowly moving forward revealing the chamber. Ash, May and Professor Alden stepped inside and looked around in awe: all around them, the walls were covered in unintelligible writing as well as carved pictures of various fossil Pokemon like Kabuto and Kabutops.

"Wow...this looks amazing!" May gasped as the three looked around the room. "Yeah. These panels depict ancient people and Pokemon living together." Professor Alden agreed, slowly nodding. As the three were taking a look at the various writings and pictures, May noticed that there was the door in the centre of the room. Her curiosity peaking, May ran over and had a look at the door and she noticed that it seemed to be covering something.

"Guys, look at this!" May said getting Ash and Professor Alden's attention. The two ran over to where May was to see what she found. "It's the door that led into the chamber. But it looks like there might be another hidden room in here: it looks like it might be shown if the four treasures are placed in the slots." May explained. Hearing that suggestion, Professor Alden placed the four treasures in the slots. Just then, the group could see sunlight coming into the chamber and they turned to see that the sun was rising over the horizon. "It's morning already?" May asked.

"I guess so. We were so caught up in everything that we didn't notice how fast time went by." Ash commented. Just then, the four treasures started to glow bright white sending the white lights streaking through the lines across the walls while Ash, May and Professor Alden watched on in surprise. As the white light streaked everywhere, the door slowly moved to reveal a staircase leading down into a hidden area.

"Well, let's take a look." Professor Alden said before heading down the staircase. Ash started to follow, but he stopped and turned to see that May wasn't following them. "Aren't you coming too, May?" he asked.

"I would, but..." May looked down at where the staircase was leading before taking a step back with worry. "Not knowing what's down there makes me feel a bit nervous."

Ash showed a soft smile before he stepped forward and offered May his hand. "That's okay. You can stay beside me if that helps you feel better." Ash said. May stared at Ash's hand in silence for a few moments before she smiled and took her hand in his. The two then headed down the staircase together and found that they were in what looked like a hidden cave with a large pool of water in the centre. "It's an enormous underground water supply!" Professor Alden noticed.

"It smells so fresh and clean." May commented. "You're right." Ash agreed. As the three looked down at the large water area wondering what was in there, a large fish-like Pokemon with a brown skin colour as well as grey spots on its skin and long fins on its body leapt out of the water much to the group's shock before landing back in with a large splash.

"It's the ancient Pokemon, Relicanth!" Professor Alden gasped in amazement. "That's an ancient Pokemon?" Ash asked while he and May were still staring in awe.

"It's true: these ruins are a portal between the present and the past." Professor Alden said. Ash and May both brightly smiled and then turned to each other.

"Ash, this is amazing. We discovered the secret of the Oldale Ruins! And it's even more impressive that I thought it would be." May cheered. Ash happily nodded in agreement with her. All the while, the two didn't notice that they were still holding hands, but they didn't seem to care.

Sometime later, Ash and May arrived back at the Pokemon Centre. "Nurse Joy, were you able to find out anything else about those crooks?" Ash asked.

"Officer Jenny is doing everything she can, but so far, no clues." Nurse Joy replied. "Well, that's too bad." May commented looking down in dismay. Ash then decided it would be best not to think about it for the moment and focus on other things.

"I guess it's time to head over to Petalburg City, right?" he asked. "(That's right!)" Pikachu agreed: they had their first Gym Badge to win.

"Ash!" Ash and May turned their heads to see Professor Alden run over to see them. "Leaving so soon?" Professor Alden asked. Ash and May both nodded in agreement. "Guess what? I've been doing a little more research over at the stone chamber, and every indication so far has lead to ancient Pokemon and man living peacefully." Professor Alden explained.

"Wow, that's great!" Ash smiled. "You've learnt so much about all of this, and so quickly too." May commented. Professor Alden nodded in agreement.

"I can hardly stop working, even to sleep! There are so many undiscovered secrets in the world of Pokemon." Professor Alden explained. May was listening intently: she couldn't agree more with him.

A little later, Ash and May were off continuing their way to Petalburg City. "Hey, I forgot! I never got to find out who the new Petalburg Gym Leader was." Ash said. May turned to Ash hearing this, and then she turned away with a nervous smile on her face.

"Well, I wouldn't really know about that." May replied. Ash turned his gaze to May wondering if she knew who the Gym Leader was, but wasn't telling him, but he decided not to ask her about it.

"I'm going for my first Hoenn Gym battle, and that first badge will be mine!" Ash announced. "(You know it!)" Pikachu agreed. Ash and May were now well on their way to Petalburg for Ash's first gym battle.

Meanwhile, all the way back at Littleroot Town, a ferry was pulling up at port. The two getting off the ferry were a seventeen year-old woman with bright blue eyes and orange hair tied up pointing upwards on the side of her head wearing a small yellow t-shirt with a blue button on the front with a dark red t-shirt underneath with matching yellow shorts, dark yellow shoes with an orange stripe on them, a red bag with a blue handle over her shoulder and holding a Togepi in her arms, and a twenty year-old man with light brown skin and dark brown spiked hair wearing a brown short-sleeved zipped vest with a green t-shirt underneath, grey tracksuit pants and dark blue sneakers with a white stripe on the front and a large bag with two handles on his back: they were Brock Harrison and Misty Waterflower.

"Well, we're finally here. This is Littleroot Town." Brock commented as he and Misty looked around at their destination.

"Yeah, this is it. And this is the start of a new adventure...just as soon as we catch up with Ash!" Misty said with Togepi happily chirping in her arms. With this, the two started to rush off: they had to catch up with Ash as soon as possible and there was little time to waste.


	3. Destination 102

**Friends to Lovers**

**Chapter 3: Destination 102**

Ash and May were continuing their trek on the path leading to Petalburg City where Ash was going for his first Gym Badge in Hoenn. As the two were walking, they glanced up to see that there was a white sign beside the path with the words 'Route 102' printed on it in blue paint. "Guess we must be headed in the right direction: it shouldn't be too long until we get to Petalburg City. You ready for that first Gym battle, Pikachu?" Ash asked, turning to his partner on his shoulder. "(I sure am!)" Pikachu replied with a bright smile; he had just as much anticipation to get that first Gym Badge as Ash did. Ash then started to continue off ahead while May was still staring up at the sign: the route they were on was undoubtedly the route to Petalburg City, and that meant that Ash was soon going to find out who the Gym Leader was. She then looked away to find that Ash had already gone off ahead, so she immediately rushed forward to catch up with him.

"Hey Ash, hold on a second!" May called. Ash stopped in his tracks and turned around to see May stop short having just caught up with him. "May, what's up? How come you were just standing there?" Ash asked. May bent down, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath before she looked up at Ash and stood upright.

"Well, I was just wondering. You're heading for the Gym battle, right?" May asked. Ash nodded in agreement with an expression of puzzlement on his face, like he was wondering what May was getting at. "Well, don't you think it would be a good idea to really make sure that your Pokemon are ready for the battle? You wouldn't want to be caught off guard when you get out there, right?" May suggested. Ash stared in silence for a few moments trying to figure out what May was saying, before he smiled as it made sense to him.

"You mean as in training?" he asked. May promptly nodded in agreement. "May, that's a great idea! Then we'll both ready when we arrive in Petalburg City. Good thing you thought of it." Ash commented, showing May a thumbs-up. May brightly smiled and nodded once: she was glad that she thought of it as well.

Meanwhile back on Route 101, Brock and Misty were on their way to Oldale Town, as well as trying to catch up with Ash: considering that he had arrived a day earlier than them, they were certain that he was already well on his way to Petalburg City. As the two were heading down the path, Misty was looking around their surroundings in awe. "Wow, look at all of this! It feels so much like Viridian Forest, except with less trees and I don't have to worry about running into any bug Pokemon. Those things just creep me out!" Misty commented, as she then looked down with an expression of fear replacing her smile while she was mentioning bug types, and then she shivered while holding Togepi tighter in her arms while making sure not to squeeze her by mistake.

"And we don't have to worry about getting lost either. It's just one straight path to Oldale Town." Brock added. Misty turned to Brock and nodded in agreement: that was true as well. Once they made it through Oldale Town, they'd be well on their way to Petalburg City. "Where do you think Ash would be right now?" Brock asked.

"Oh, knowing him, he's probably already at Petalburg City right now. He's always been in a rush to get to any important destination, so I'm sure that some things would never change when it comes to him." Misty replied, shrugging with one arm while continuing to hold Togepi with her spare arm. Togepi then happily chirped in Misty's arms having been listening all the while.

"I don't know, Misty. I'm sure Ash would start to learn from his past mistakes, so I think he'd be taking it slow right now." Brock said. Misty let out a small sigh and slowly shook her head: to her, that seemed very unlikely knowing what Ash was like.

Back with Ash and May, they were both sending out the Pokemon they had. "Larvitar, come on out!" Ash said, throwing out the Pokeball Larvitar was in, causing it to open and release the little Rock Skin Pokemon, with him happily flailing his arms around with a big smile on his face.

"Torchic, Azurill, let's go!" May added, throwing both Pokeballs with her Pokemon inside into the air, causing them to both open and release Torchic and Azurill who landed safely on the ground beside Larvitar. Torchic rapidly shook her feathers and then opened her eyes, while Azurill bounced up once into the air and then dropped on the ground. Pikachu then jumped off Ash's shoulder and stood beside the others. Once they knew all their Pokemon were out and showing their undivided attention, Ash and May bent down to their height.

"All right, everyone, we're almost at Petalburg City. But first we're going to do some training so we'll be ready for that first Gym battle. So let's give it everything we've got!" Ash explained. The group of Pokemon started to cheer, with Pikachu lifting both his fists up in the air in excitement, Larvitar happily clapping before his smile was replaced with an expression of confusion and he tilted his head wondering what was happening and Torchic and Azurill jumping up into the air with bright smiles on their faces. Seeing that everyone was ready to start training, Ash and May stood up properly and turned to each other. "So, May, how do you think we should do this training?" Ash asked.

May looked down to think pressing one finger under her chin. After about a few seconds to give it some thought, May immediately snapped her fingers as a bright smile crossed her face. "I know! How about we split up?" she suggested. She then pointed to the left of them. "You can go that way, and I'll head down this way." May explained as she then pointed to her right showing Ash which direction they would go: he would go to the left while she went to the right. Ash had a look in both directions May was pointing to and then turned to her with an expression of concern on his face.

"Are you sure? Will you be all right by yourself?" Ash asked: since he knew that this would be the first time May was training, he wasn't sure of whether or not she would be okay doing this on her own. May didn't seem to be as worried about her arrangement, as she happily nodded with a confident smile on her face. "Yeah, don't worry! I'll be fine. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have any Pokemon at my side, would I?" May asked in response. That seemed to be a reasonable enough answer for Ash as his concerned expression was replaced with a smile and he then nodded: it seemed that he now agreed with May's suggestion.

"All right then. I guess that's not a problem if you think it isn't. We'll meet back here in a few hours, okay?" Ash asked. May promptly nodded in agreement: that sounded good to her. With this, Ash looked down at both Pikachu and Larvitar. "All right, let's go, you two!" Ash said. Pikachu and Larvitar both nodded and Ash started to head off to the left with his two Pokemon following not too far behind. Once he was out of her clear vision, May looked down at both her Pokemon.

"Well, guess it's just us. Torchic, Azurill, follow me!" May said. She then stood upright and started to rush off into the forest with Torchic and Azurill following right behind her. Once they got to a good enough distance, May stopped running and starting looking around the trees to see if she could find any Pokemon in the area. "Now let's see. What kinds of Pokemon would I be able to find around here?" May wondered as she pressed her finger underneath her chin as she was trying to think. Torchic turned her gaze to a tree beside her and, getting an idea, ran over to it. She looked up at the tree in silence for a few moments and then, with her beak glowing bright white, she started rapidly pecking against the bark. Azurill bounced over to see what her fellow Pokemon was doing and then May turned her head to notice this.

"Torchic, what are you doing?" May asked. She then glanced up to see the leaves on one of the branches up near the top of the tree starting to shake. Torchic stopped pecking against the tree and then she looked up with a bright smile noticing that her attempt at finding a Pokemon seemed to be successful. Up on the tree, the leaves continued shaking for a few moments before a little worm-like Pokemon crawled out onto the branch: it had bright scarlet red skin with a cream coloured underbelly, a little yellow spike on the top of its head, yellow eyes with big black pupils, ten little stubby white legs and two yellow spines at the end of its body. "What sort of Pokemon is that?" May asked with an expression of surprise on her face. She grabbed her Pokedex out of her bag and opened it to find out what Pokemon she found.

"Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. Wurmple primarily lives off sap from trees, and the suction cups on its feet keep it from slipping." The Pokedex explained. May stared at the information in fascination and then she looked back up at the tree to watch Wurmple slowly turn around, crawl across the tree branch and start munching on the leaves from the branch. May was silent for a few seconds as she, Torchic and Azurill stared up at the little worm Pokemon before she smiled and nodded with a determined expression on her face, coming to a decision. "I'll try and catch that Wurmple!" she stated. With this, she walked over to the tree, grabbed hold of it and slowly started to make her way up trying to get up to that Wurmple.

Meanwhile, Ash had arrived out to his area of the forest with Pikachu and Larvitar right beside him and he turned to his two Pokemon. "Well, this looks like a good place to get started on training. Pikachu, you go and see if there's any Pokemon around here we can battle." Ash said, looking down at the Electric Mouse Pokemon. Pikachu nodded in agreement and started to scout off ahead while Ash turned his gaze to Larvitar, and then he knelt down so he was close to the little Pokemon's height. "Larvitar, you can just watch this time around. I know that battling might worry you, so I don't want you to get involved in something you don't want to do. Does that sound good to you?" Ash asked, rubbing the Rock Skin Pokemon's head. Larvitar brightly smiled and nodded in agreement: he was glad to hear that Ash understood how he was feeling. Ash showed a bright smile in return, happy to see that Larvitar was okay with that idea.

He then looked up in the direction May went off in, and an expression of concern quickly crossed his face. "I wonder if May will be all right by herself." Ash commented to himself: he knew that May was just starting on her adventure as a Trainer and, as much as he wouldn't admit it out loud, he didn't want to her to do anything that could get her hurt. Ash suddenly felt a bright smile cross his face at the mention of May's name and he had to wonder: what was it about May that made him feel so happy inside?

"(Ash!)" Ash's thoughts were promptly interrupted when he heard Pikachu calling his name and he ran over, with Larvitar following, to see Pikachu standing at a tree he had come towards and he was excitedly pointing at it with a big smile on his face. "(I think there might be some Pokemon hiding in these trees!)" Pikachu explained. Ash looked up at the tree Pikachu was pointing at and, after about a few seconds to think it over, smiled and nodded in confirmation.

"Well, let's see what we find. Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash called. With this, Pikachu charged towards the tree at full speed and rammed straight against the bark. After a few seconds, the leaves on the top of the tree started to rapidly shake and Ash and Pikachu both showed a big smile, thrilled by this. "All right! I think we found something!" Ash cheered, while Pikachu happily jumped into the air at this. The two then looked back up at the tree watching it shake for a few more seconds before the shaking stopped, which caused Ash and his two Pokemon to stare in confusion wondering what was going on. But then, a horde of bug Pokemon slowly came out from inside the tree: they were all bright yellow with black stripes at the bottom of their body with a stinger on the abdomen, big bright red eyes, four legs with two legs on the bottom of their bodies and two arms that were tipped with long, conical stingers, antennae in the shape of the number seven and two pairs of rounded, veined wings that were fluttering rapidly to keep them in the air. They all glared at Ash, irritated by being disturbed from their snack time. Ash, at the meantime, slowly backed away with an expression of fear: he could recognise what those Pokemon were right from the top of his head.

"Beedrill!" Ash yelled out; he honestly couldn't believe how many hordes of those Beedrill there were and he had run into quite a few in his past travels. Pikachu slowly stepped forward with a determined glar and sparks of electricity crackling from his red cheeks. The Beedrill then charged forward ready to attack Ash, but Larvitar, who had received a large fright from seeing those Beedrill so close up, suddenly let out a loud high-pitched scream that immediately prompted Ash and Pikachu to both cover their ears: the scream was so loud that light blue sound vibrations could be seen emanating from it.

"Larvitar's using Screech again!" Ash cried out, just barely being able to hear himself over the volume and pitch of the screaming. "(Not again! My ears! Make him stop!)" Pikachu yelled, having pulled his ears down and immediately covering them; he found the screaming to be just as unbearable to listen to as Ash did. The Beedrill were all so frightened by the loud screech that they quickly started to fly away in panic. Once they were gone, Larvitar stopped screaming and watched in surprise as the Beedrill horde flew away in fright. Ash and Pikachu both uncovered their ears once they knew that the screaming stopped and they both looked down at Larvitar with a big smile on their face.

"Larvitar! You chased those Beedrill away!" Ash cheered, happily picking up Larvitar and tightly hugging him while Larvitar stared in puzzlement wondering what was happening. "(Great job, Larvitar! You really taught them a lesson!)" Pikachu added having jumped up onto Ash's shoulder in the meantime. Larvitar then realised that he had actually been successful in a battle, even if he didn't mean to get involved to begin with, and showed a big smile happily clapping all the while. Ash then released his embrace on Larvitar and turned his gaze in the direction the Beedrill flew off in.

"Looks like they headed off to the right..." Ash said to himself. He then caught his own words and gasped when he realised who was in that area. "They're flying straight towards where May is! We have to hurry before they catch up to her!" he then quickly added turning to his two Pokemon. Pikachu and Larvitar both nodded in agreement and they rushed off to the area that May would be in, certain that was where the Beedrill were headed. "Don't you worry, May. I'll stop those Beedrill before they catch up to you." Ash promised, saying that more to himself than he was to anyone else.

At the same time as Ash's training, May had just finished climbing up the tree and she was slowly crawling across the branch over to the Wurmple, making sure to be as quiet as possible so the Wurmple wouldn't hear her coming. Down on the ground, Torchic and Azurill were watching all the while with expressions of concern as they were both wondering if May was okay. "(May, is everything all right up there?)" Torchic asked. "(Are you okay, Miss May?)" Azurill added, tilting her head as if she was wondering what was going on. May looked down to see her two Pokemon watching in concern and she showed a confident smile.

"Yeah, I'm all right! You don't need to worry!" May replied, waving to the two Pokemon down on the ground to let them know of her status. With this, she resumed crawling across the branch slowly making her way over to the Wurmple who was still munching on branch leaves, unaware of May approaching behind it. "Wow, I can hardly believe that I'm about to catch my third Pokemon. I can't imagine how Ash will respond when he sees that I was able to pull off something like that. Oh, he'll be so proud of me!" May commented to herself, with her cheeks lightly glowing red at the thought of being able to impress Ash with such a successful feat. But then she realised that she was talking a bit too loudly for her own good and looked down to see Torchic and Azurill staring at May in confusion, wondering what she was talking about. "Oh, don't mind me. I was just...talking to myself." May said, showing a nervous smile while a sweatdrop appeared on the side of her head from embarrassment.

Torchic and Azurill both stared at each other as they were both wondering what May meant when she mentioned how Ash would respond to her being able to catch a third Pokemon. "(Why do you think May is so certain that she'll make Ash proud by showing that she was able to catch another Pokemon on her own? Do you think that...perhaps she's trying to impress him?)" Torchic suggested. Azurill turned her head to one side while showing an expression of puzzlement wondering what that word meant. "(Oh, I thought you might not know what impress means. It means that May's trying to astonish Ash, that she's trying to show him that she's capable on her own and maybe he'll be able to see that he doesn't always need to keep an eye on her.)" Torchic explained.

"(Maybe Miss May likes Mr. Ash.)" Azurill innocently replied. Torchic stared at her new friend in disbelief at the mention of the possibility of May liking Ash. "(How is that possible? May's only known him for what, two days? There's no way that she could take a liking to him so quickly.)" Torchic commented: since she was inside her Pokeball while they were on Route 101 and at Oldale Town, Torchic didn't notice everything that happened with Ash and May. However, since Azurill was outside on their way to Oldale Town, she noticed what had happened with them.

"(Well, while we were at the big Pokemon Centre last night, Miss May told me about how Mr. Ash saved her from those scary Mightyena. She said that Pikachu helped by scaring them away with Thunderbolt and she wasn't even looking when it happened. While Miss May was telling me that story, I noticed that she had a big smile on her face and that her cheeks were glowing like a red light. So I think that Miss May might be taking a liking to Mr. Ash and he doesn't even realise it.)" Azurill explained. Torchic slowly nodded as she listened; she could understand where Azurill was coming from with all of this.

May could hear Azurill talking to Torchic all the while and she showed a small smile; she had to admit that, even though she wasn't able to understand what Azurill was saying, she got the basic essentials of the explanation and she couldn't deny it: she, in fact, had taken a liking to Ash. However, she wasn't sure of whether or not he felt the same way and whether he would actually return her feelings. But then she remembered what happened at Oldale Town: Ash showing her around the Pokemon Centre and reassuring her that Nurse Joy would take good care of her Pokemon, him standing in front of her and protecting her against the group of thugs that they had now identified to be Team Magma, him complementing her on her battling capabilities and when the two were down in the underground cavern, he held her hand to make sure that she would know that she was safe since he knew that she was worried about going down the staircase and he never let go once. Remembering all of that made May's smile grow larger in size and her cheeks start to glow, and she mentally decided that she would wait for the right time; she would wait and make sure that Ash was ready to learn about her newfound feelings and then that would be when she would tell him the truth.

Suddenly, her contemplative thoughts were rudely interrupted when she heard a loud scream coming from the area of the forest that she knew Ash would be in. She looked up to see loud blue vibrations echoing through the air and piercing the silence around them. "What's that?" May asked from surprise as she, Torchic and Azurill all looked in the direction the sound vibrations were coming from. May then looked back to see that Wurmple had turned around to her and was staring her straight in the eyes. May then suddenly screamed in shock, which prompted Wurmple to quickly scamper away and hide into the tree bushes, and then she lost her grip on the tree branch and dropped down on the ground in front of her two Pokemon, landing on her head with a loud thud. Seeing this, Torchic and Azurill both immediately rushed over with expressions of worry as May slowly sat up rubbing her head to make sure she didn't damage it too much.

"(May, are you all right?)" Torchic asked. "(Are you hurt, Miss May?)" Azurill asked. May turned to see her two Pokemon looking up at her in concern and then she smiled and slowly shook her head just to be certain that it was still intact from that impact.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You both don't need to worry. Hopefully that will be the last time I end up landing on my head." May replied. Once she made sure that her head was still safe, she looked up at the tree that she had just climbed up and fell off at the same time, and noticed that the Wurmple had scattered off from fright. "Oh, I let it get away. How could I make such a silly mistake like that?" May sighed in dismay, looking down at the ground feeling reasonably disappointed with herself for her failed attempt to catch another Pokemon. Torchic and Azurill both showed expressions of concern: they didn't want to see May feeling down on herself like this. Just then, the three could hear the sounds of hovering wings and looked up wondering what was causing this. "What's that sound?" May asked, as she immediately got up on her feet and slowly stepped forward to investigate the cause of the hovering sounds. Before she could go any further, a large horde of Beedrill suddenly rushed forward having been frightened by the loud screeching that May and her Pokemon heard. Upon seeing this, May jumped back and screamed in fright.

"What are those?!" she basically cried out, while Torchic and Aurill both jumped up into the air and both yelled out in panic at the same time. Not willing to take any chances to find out, May promptly turned around and started to run away, with Torchic and Azurill running right beside her and the horde of Beedrill chasing after them. "Why is it always me that manages to get into danger?!" May yelled. This was now the second time she had managed to get herself into trouble: first the Mightyena attacking her and now this. May looked over her shoulder about a second to see the Beedrill following her; from the looks of the horde, it seemed like there was more than a dozen of them. She then gasped in shock and quickly looked away, not wanting to get another glance of those Pokemon. Torchic then turned her head to see the Beedrill horde and, with an expression of determination crossing her face as she got an idea, turned right around and stopped right in her tracks. May and Azurill both turned to find that Torchic had stopped and was staring the incoming horde straight in the eyes so they both turned and ran right over to her. "Torchic, what are you doing? You're going to hurt yourself if you let that horde get near you!" May called. Azurill, on the other hand, seemed to understand what Torchic was trying to do because she showed an expression of determination just like Torchic and bounced over to stand right beside her.

"(We'll take care of these guys.)" Torchic stated. May stared at her two Pokemon in surprise noticing now confident they were that they would be able to chase the horde of Beedrill away, and they were just waiting for her to tell them what to do. Understanding what they were both trying to tell her, May showed a smile of confidence and then she simply nodded: she felt ready to help them out. With this, the three glanced up to see the large horde coming right towards them.

"All right, let's go! Torchic, use Ember and Azurill, use Water Gun!" May said, pointing directly towards the horde so they knew who to attack. With this, Torchic and Azurill both jumped up into the air and Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak while Azurill shot a strong blast of water from her mouth. The two attacks directly hit the Beedrill horde and they immediately turned and buzzed away retreating into the trees ahead while May watched. Once the horde was completely out of sight, May showed a bright smile and she jumped up into the air in excitement. "Yes, we did it! Great job, you two!" May cheered. Torchic and Azurill both smiled at each other and started jumped up and down, thrilled by their successful effort.

"May!" Hearing that voice, May slowly turned around to see Ash run over with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder and Larvitar running beside him; she could see that he had a concerned expression on his face and he also looked worn out like he had been running over to find her from a long distance. As soon as he approached her, Ash stopped and placed his hands on his knees and then looked down to catch his breath. May couldn't help herself smiling a bit as she noticed how exhausted Ash was from running to find her; it suddenly made her imagine him running all this way just to make sure that she was okay. Sure enough after taking a few seconds to get his breath back, Ash looked up at May and then adjusted himself so he was standing upright. "I started to run over here when I noticed that those Beedrill were coming towards where you were training. Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" Ash asked almost rapidly, as if his worry that something might have happened to May had caught up with him.

May happily giggled a little listening to Ash's concern for her safety before she turned to him and shook her head showing a reassuring smile. "No, I'm okay. That horde had another thing coming trying to attack me, Torchic and Azurill." she replied. Ash stared in surprise hearing May sounding so confident after she was just nearly attacked by a horde of Beedrill, but then he started to smile once he figured out why that would be.

"You mean you battled them yourself and chased them away?" Ash asked. May promptly nodded in agreement; while she did get a fright after seeing the horde at first, that was indeed the case. Ash's smile immediately grew larger upon hearing this: it was obvious that he was largely impressed hearing that May had yet again been successful in battling on her own. "May, that's great! You're really starting to get better at battling by yourself." Ash commented. "(He's right. Good job, May!)" Pikachu agreed showing a big smile all the while. May showed a bright smile and she couldn't help giggling to herself; though she wasn't successful at catching another Pokemon on her own today, she knew that her battling skills were starting to show improvement, and that was something she knew Ash noticed.

Meanwhile back on Route 101, Brock and Misty were slowly making their way up the hill. "We've been walking for quite a while. How much longer should it be until we get to Oldale Town?" Misty asked turning to Brock. Brock grabbed out the guidebook he was carrying with him and opened it up to take a look at the route to Oldale Town.

"We're nearly there, Misty. The Pokemon Centre is just right over this hill." Brock replied. Misty showed a big smile at this: that meant they just had a bit further to go until they got there. "That's great to hear! Hopefully we'll be able to rest for a while before we head off to Petalburg City. And once we get to Petalburg City, we'll finally catch up with Ash." Misty commented. Togepi then happily chirped in Misty's arms; she was looking forward to seeing her friend again as much as Misty was. Misty looked down at Togepi and beamed to see her so excited. "Isn't that great, Togepi? Soon you'll be able to get to see Ash and Pikachu again." Misty said. Togepi happily nodded in agreement: she couldn't even describe how much she was to be able to see her friends again. Misty then turned to Brock to ask him how he was feeling about seeing Ash, but she noticed that his eyes had suddenly been replaced with pink hearts and he had a large smile on his face which caused her to stare at him in confusion. "Brock, what's gotten into you?" she asked.

"And when we get to the Pokemon Centre, hopefully we'll get to see Nurse Joy!" Brock suddenly gushed. Misty then sighed in dismay when she figured out what had gotten into Brock: he was looking forward to seeing Nurse Joy so he could ask her if she wanted to be his girlfriend. This was such as a regular thing with Brock that it was essentially now a part of who he was, but it didn't mean that Misty had to like it.

"Some things just never change." Misty sighed, slowly shaking her head. Togepi simply slowly nodded: she couldn't agree more. Misty then looked up and an expression of fascination immediately replaced her previous expression of annoyance. "Hey, Brock! Look at that!" Misty said, quickly shaking Brock to get his attention and then pointing forward. Brock turned to Misty wondering what was wrong, and looked in the direction she was pointing at to notice that they were coming towards a collection of stone walls and a chamber surrounded by several grey stone pillars. "What do you think that is?" Misty asked.

Brock had a look at the guidebook and then looked back up at the unusual sight coming closer into view. "Well, it looks like those are the ruins of Oldale Town." Brock explained. The two soon came up to the top of the hill and found themselves standing in front of the ancient ruins. "Since we're here, why not we take a look inside?" Brock suggested turning to Misty while asking that question. Misty stared with some uncertainty; she wanted to see what was inside the ruins, but at the same time she knew that it would hold their route to Ash back a little. Noticing that she looked a bit undecided with this, Brock showed an assuring smile. "Don't worry, Misty. We'll only be in there for a few minutes, and then we'll head off to Oldale Town." Brock said. Misty then smiled, knowing that was a good idea, and then the two walked over to the ruins and stepped inside. Once they were inside, Brock and Misty both looked around in awe to see that the walls were covered with unintelligible writing as well as heliographs of Pokemon such as Kabutops and Omanyte. They then noticed that there was a staircase leading down to an underground cavern.

"Come on, let's go see what's in there!" Misty immediately stated, her interest in learning what was down there peaking. With this, she promptly rushed over to the staircase and started to make her way down while Brock stood there in silence for a few moments before following her; he honestly didn't expect her to be this excited to find out what was in that underground area considering that she was just wondering about their progress being hindered a few seconds earlier.

Back on Route 101, Ash and May were heading back to the area where they decided to split up with their Pokemon following right beside them; Pikachu was sitting on Ash's shoulder and Larvitar, Torchic and Azurill were all walking on the ground. "Man, today was definitely crazy, wasn't it? I certainly didn't expect for us to get attacked by a Beedrill horde." Ash commented. May nodded in agreement; she didn't see that coming either. Ash then turned to May with a smile and she looked over at him with the two looking at each other straight in the eyes. "I have to be honest, May. You're really doing very well with battling considering that you're just getting started with it. I wouldn't be surprised if you were even able to compete in the Pokemon League." Ash added. May couldn't help but show a bright smile; she couldn't believe that Ash already thought so highly of her battling skills, considering that she had only battled one wild Pokemon and one other person so far.

"You...really think so?" she asked. Ash simply nodded in agreement; he was very certain that May would be able to do well. May could feel her cheeks start to glow for the third time in this day alone. She wasn't even sure how Ash had this effect on her, but she liked it regardless. As the two brightly smiled at each other, Ash looked up to see that evening was slowly coming their way as the sun was starting to set over the horizon.

"Looks like it's getting late. We better start setting up camp for the night." Ash commented. May looked up with him to see what he was talking about and she could see that sure enough, evening was approaching. The two soon arrived at the area of the route they split up at and Ash turned to May. "I'm going to go grab some firewood. May, how about you see if you can find us some food?" Ash suggested. May nodded in agreement and she had a big smile on her face: she had to admit that she was impressed by how Ash knew what he was doing. With this, Ash headed off to grab some branches for firewood while May turned and looked down at Torchic and Azurill.

"Come on, you two. Let's see if we can find some food for tonight." May said. Torchic and Azurill both nodded in agreement, so the three headed off into the forest to see what they could find. Once they got to a good area, May started to look around the trees. "Let's see. What would we be able to find around here?" she wondered as she slowly walked having a look around the trees to see what there was on the branches. She then turned her head to find that on a tree beside her, there were several big blue berries hanging on the branches: she could identify them as Oran Berries. "Wow, those look so tasty. They'd make a pretty good meal." May commented. With this, she walked over to the tree and started to pluck a few berries from the branches.

"(Miss May! Come look at this!)" Recognizing those squeals to be coming from Azurill, May turned and rushed off to find where her two Pokemon had gone off to. Meanwhile, from where they were, Torchic and Azurill were staring at a bush in front of them with their eyes having gone large from excitement and they could see that there were various kinds of Berries on it. The two could hear May approaching and turned around to see that she had just arrived.

"What's happening? What did you find?" May asked. She then looked down to see the bush that Torchic and Azurill were looking at and she gasped in awe to see how many kinds of Berries there were: there were Oran Berries, Pecha Berries and many others that May couldn't even indentify. And to make the deal even sweeter, there was a lot of them too: this was just what she was looking for. "Wow, this is amazing! We've got more than enough of what we need. I have to say, not only are you two great battlers, but you're also great food hunters as well." May commented, bending down to Torchic and Azurill and happily rubbing their heads. The two Pokemon both happily smiled: they are more than glad to help May out. "Come on, let's grab how much we need and meet up with Ash." May then added. Torchic and Azurill nodded in agreement and with that, the three got to work picking several Berries from the bush.

Meanwhile, Ash had just finished placing the sticks and branches he found in place for the campfire. "Now the campfire's in place. We just need to wait for May to come back with our food." Ash said, looking down at Pikachu with a satisfied smile.

"Right here!" Ash turned his head to see May walking over with Torchic and Azurill, and he nearly jumped back in surprise when he noticed that May's arms were filled with different kinds of Berries, as well as Torchic and Azurill carrying a few on their back and head respectively. "We found a bush that had a lot of Berries on it, and we just grabbed what we needed from there." May explained noticing Ash's expression of shock.

"Well, I can agree that we have what we need. But don't you think that was a few too many?" Ash asked, noticing just how many May had in her arms alone. "That's okay. We can save whatever we don't eat for later down the road." May replied. Ash then showed a smile and nodded: that sounded like a good idea to him.

Sometime later, night-time had fallen and Ash and May were sitting on the grass next to each other cooking the berries they placed on a stick over their campfire while their four Pokemon were munching on a bunch of raw Berries the two Trainers left for them. "I have to admit, I feel like I'm out on a camping trip. Sitting out in front of a fire set up on our own, eating food that we find out in the forest. And it's better than I thought it would be." May commented as she and Ash looked over at each other.

"Yeah, it really feels that way, doesn't it? And the best part of it is you also have a great view of the night sky." Ash agreed. The two then looked to see the berries had been thoroughly cooked, so they lifted the sticks from the fire and started to munch on the berries. "I've got to say, May, this is really a good dinner. You should make things for us to eat more often." Ash commented, with his mouth full of berries. May then covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle her laughing from how amusing Ash sounded with his mouth full. Once Ash swallowed the berry bits he was munching on, he turned to May. "Don't you think so?" he then asked, sounding more intelligible.

"Oh, believe me, Ash. My cooking has to be the least professional you'll ever want to see. I, in complete honesty, cannot be trusted to work in a kitchen by myself." May explained, placing her hands in front of her and immediately shaking her head. She then noticed that Ash was staring at her in surprise like he was wondering if her cooking was really as bad as she was making it out to be. "Okay, it's not really _that_ bad. But still, it's not very professional." May then added, deciding to be honest about it.

"Have you ever thought about learning how to cook foods?" Ash asked. "Well, my parents did enrol me in a few cooking classes when I was little. But I never really payed attention whenever my instructor would tell me what to do. I'm not kidding when I say this: the dishes I would serve made the others look better in comparison." May explained. Ash then covered his mouth trying not to laugh from how ridiculously silly that sounded. Noticing him trying not to laugh, May immediately frowned. "That's not funny! I'm being serious!" she snapped, upset that Ash was laughing at her.

"I know that, it's just..." Ash then took his hand away from his mouth, recovering from his near laughing outburst. "I can't imagine that something you would make could really be that bad." Ash then said. May's frown was immediately replaced with an expression of surprise, like she was wondering if she was really hearing this. "Yeah, I'm telling the truth. Considering how good these are, I honestly think you can make some really delicious meals with the right teaching." Ash continued. May's expression of surprise was soon replaced with a bright smile as she heard Ash say this: she didn't expect for him to actually be complementary towards something _she_ made. But...that was something she really liked: Ash was pretty much confident in every one of her abilities while others didn't feel the same way.

Back at Oldale Town, Brock and Misty were sitting at one of the tables eating some spaghetti while Togepi and the other Pokemon were on the floor munching on bowls filled with Pokemon food. "Wow, the meals they have here are great." Brock commented. Misty, having her mouth full of spaghetti, nodded in agreement with a big smile on her face: this was certainly a good dinner.

"Yeah, they are. But I have to admit that I still prefer the meals you cook." Misty said. Brock stared up at Misty in surprise while the Pokemon weren't listening and were still busy munching on their food. "Why wouldn't I? Your meals are some of the best I've ever tried. Besides, who wouldn't love your cooking?" Misty asked. Brock then brightly smiled, extremely happy to hear that compliment.

"Thanks, Misty." Brock said. Misty showed a big smile in return; this was definitely worth it considering that she had to be the one to drag Brock away when he tried to flirt with Nurse Joy. Misty wouldn't have been too surprised if she had to get a restraining order on Brock soon just to keep him under control. "So, how do you think Ash is doing sleeping out on Route 102?" Brock asked.

"Oh, knowing him, I'll bet he's trying to find somewhere to sleep. It's a surprise he's even able to find his way to a city knowing what he's like." Misty commented, giving a shrug before resuming eating. Brock just stared at Misty with a nervous smile; it was clear that some things about her hadn't changed despite her being older.

Out on Route 102, Ash and May had just finished eating their berries and were looking up at the night sky sitting beside one another. "Wow, the sky looks so beautiful from out here." May whispered, staring up at the stars in awe. Ash looked over at May with a big smile seeing how enthralled she was; it was obvious that she was having a great time.

"Yeah, it sure does." Ash agreed slowly nodding. May then scooted over closer to Ash, him not noticing, and then rested her head on his shoulder. Ash then turned his glance to see this and looked over at May in surprise. "What are you doing?" he asked. May lifted her eyes up to look at Ash and she showed a bright smile.

"You don't mind, do you?" she asked in response. As Ash looked down at May, he noticed that her eyes, which were already wonderful enough on their own, had reflections of the stars in them making them look even more dazzling. He then found himself staring in amazement and he felt like his heartbeat was slowly increasing seeing how beautiful May's eyes looked. After about a few seconds he slowly shook his head with a big smile slowly showing; he didn't seem to mind at all. "That's good. I just thought you'd be a bit uncomfortable with me like this." May said. The two then looked back up at the night sky with big smiles on their face; it was clear that they greatly enjoyed spending time with each other.

After what seemed like minutes, Ash and May both turned to find that their Pokemon had fallen asleep. "You ready to head to sleep as well?" Ash asked. May nodded in agreement, so Ash opened his bag and grabbed out his sleeping bag, setting it on the ground and unzipping it before climbing it and making himself comfortable. He then turned to notice that May didn't have anything to sleep on, as she rested up against a tree looking quite cold, so he figured that maybe he should let her sleep with him for the night.

"May?" he asked. May turned her head to look over at Ash sitting up in his sleeping bag and he was placing his hand against it offering her to hop in. "You can sleep with me tonight if you'd like." Ash offered. May then stood up and walked over, and then she bent down with an expression of surprise.

"Are you sure? Is that okay with you?" she asked. Ash immediately nodded in agreement. "Yeah, don't worry. There's plenty of room in this thing. Come on, hop in." he replied. May then smiled in gratitude, and she slowly climbed into the sleeping bag while Ash slowly moved over to make room for her. Once May was comfortable, she looked over at Ash.

"Thanks, Ash." May said. "You're welcome. Just make sure you're comfortable and feel free to let me know if you need a bit more space." Ash replied. May nodded in agreement and then the two snuggled up and closed their eyes.

"Goodnight, Ash." May said. "Goodnight, May." Ash replied. With this, the two were soon sound asleep.

The next morning, the sun slowly rose in the horizon and Ash and May were still sound asleep in the sleeping bag: during the night, May had snuggled up next to Ash and she had her arms wrapped around him. May then slowly opened her eyes and looked over at Ash with a big smile. "Good morning." she softly whispered. Ash then opened his eyes and shifted his gaze over to May beside him and a bright smile crossed his face.

"Oh, morning, May. Did you sleep well last night?" he asked. May happily nodded in agreement. "I sure did. Thanks again for letting me sleep with you, Ash. It was really nice of you to do that." May commented.

"Oh, you're welcome. I just didn't want you sleeping out in the cold. Wouldn't be feeling very good in the morning, would you?" Ash asked. May softly giggled and shook her head; she wouldn't be feeling as good as she was right now.

Sometime later, the two were fully dressed and had just finished packing up everything. "So, are we ready to keep moving to Petalburg City?" Ash asked. "We sure are." May agreed, happily nodding. With this, the two continued to walk down the path to Petalburg City. As the two were walking, May couldn't help herself thinking about what happened last night: Ash offered her to sleep with him in his sleeping bag, and he was perfectly fine with it to boot. That made her gain a big smile on her face, and she knew that though he didn't understand what he was feeling for her, she was certain that it was starting to become more than just friendship for him. Ash was looking at the path ahead and then he showed a smile noticing something in front of them.

"May, look!" Ash immediately said, pointing ahead. May looked with him to see what he found and noticed that looking out from behind a bush in front of them was a little Pokemon with a white body and its arms and legs resembled either a ball gown or an oversized dress. It also had green hair that resembled a bowl cut and covered most of its face including its red eyes, and the hair was split by two horns with a large horn at the front and a smaller horn at the back.

"What's that?" May asked. She immediately grabbed out her Pokedex and opened it up to find out what this little Pokemon was. "Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. Ralts has the power to sense the emotions of people and Pokemon with the horns on its head. It takes cover if it senses any hostility." The Pokedex explained. May stared at the information in fascination and then she looked up at the little Ralts, who turned to see the two Trainers with an expression of uncertainty. May then smiled and nodded, quickly coming to her decision.

"I'm going to try and catch it!" she stated. With this, she grabbed out a Pokeball from her bag and threw it. "Torchic, let's go!" she called. The Pokeball then opened and Torchic came out, landing on the ground and looking at the Ralts with a smile of determination. "All right, let's battle! Torchic, use Ember!" May said pointing at the Ralts.

Torchic jumped up in the air and shot small blasts of fire from her beak at the Ralts. However, Ralts quickly jumped out of the way, much to both May and Torchic's surprise, and then ran over to May and hid behind her hugging one of her legs. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you running away from someone or something?" May asked, with an expression of concern crossing her face as she noticed how frightened the Ralts seemed to be.

Ralts slowly nodded in agreement and then pointed forward, Ash and May both turned to see what had scared Ralts and noticed a small group of Poochyena come over growling angrily at Ralts. Ralts then started to shake in fear and hid behind May. Noticing that the Poochyena might have scared Ralts, Ash and May both turned to the Poochyena with expressions of anger. "What do you think you're all doing? Can't you see that you're scaring this Ralts? And it didn't even do anything wrong to you!" Ash scolded; he clearly didn't like it whenever Pokemon were upset at each other for apparently no reason.

The Poochyena didn't pay any attention to Ash and continued glaring while growling all the while. "I guess someone needs a lesson on how to behave towards a fellow Pokemon. Torchic, use Ember!" May commented, noticing that the Poochyena weren't listening to reason. With this, Torchic shot up small blasts of fire from her beak directly at the ground startling the Poochyena and sending them running away in panic. "Maybe that will teach you some manners!" May called as she and Ash watched the pack running away. Once the Poochyena were gone, May turned around and bent down to see the Ralts still hiding behind her. "It's okay. Those Poochyena are gone now. They won't hurt you, and neither will I." May softly explained with her previous expression of anger now replaced with care and concern.

Ralts looked up at May noticing her gentle smile and couldn't feel any hate in her emotions, and then it showed a small smile and jumped into May's arms. "(Thank you...I don't know what those Poochyena would have done if they caught me. I'm so glad you were here.)" Ralts said. May brightly smiled seeing how happy Ralts was that she was there to help and held the Emotion Pokemon in her arms.

"Well, you're welcome. My name's May, and over here is my friend, Ash." May replied looking up at Ash during her introduction. Ralts slowly turned around to see Ash and Pikachu sitting on his shoulder and showed a smile before slowly waving to them. "You don't need to be scared, Ralts. Ash and Pikachu won't hurt you either." May said, noticing that Ralts still looked a bit worried.

"May's telling the truth. The odds of me ever doing anything to hurt a Pokemon are slim to none." Ash stated. "(He's right. Ash would never do anything like that to a Pokemon.)" Pikachu agreed; he knew Ash enough to know that was the truth.

"(Well, if you're really saying that it's the truth, then I believe you.)" Ralts said, slowly nodding in acceptance. Ralts then turned to May who was still holding it in her arms. "(I was wondering...would you let me join you and your friend? I know that you are both good Trainers and you would be able to keep me safe from any Pokemon who might seem dangerous. So...may I be a part of your team?)" Ralts asked. May brightly smiled and nodded; even though she couldn't understand what Ralts was saying, it sounded to her like Ralts wanted to be a part of her team and that was something she was more than happy to accept.

"Of course, Ralts! I would love to have you on my team!" May immediately replied. Ralts showed a big smile at this, the first that she had shown after seeing May, and then started clapping. "(Wow, thank you! I'll make sure I do my best in battle!)" Ralts happily explained; she knew that she was going to love being on May's team.

"Well, it looks like you have a new friend, May." Ash commented. "(That's right!)" Pikachu happily agreed showing a smile in excitement. May happily nodded in agreement, and then she looked down at Ralts with the two happily smiling at each other.

"All right! I got a Ralts!" May cheered jumping up in the air in celebration. Ralts, joining in on the celebration, jumped out of May's arms into the air; she was now part of a team that she knew would love having her.


	4. Home Sweet Petalburg

**Friends to Lovers**

**Chapter 4: Home Sweet Petalburg**

Ash and May were continuing their trek on Route 101 to get to Petalburg City so Ash could have his first Gym battle. As the two were walking side by side, Ash turned his glance to notice a white sign on the path beside them and looked up to see what it said. A bright smile immediately crossed Ash's face when he saw the blue writing: Petalburg City, and there was also an arrow underneath the writing pointing forward showing that Petalburg City was just up ahead. "We're here!" Ash cheered. Without any hesitance, he started to run off ahead accidently leaving May behind. May was staring up at the sign and she could tell Ash was right: they were now in Petalburg City. She then looked back to ask him if they could take it slow on the way there, but she saw that there was no one there; Ash had already run off. May slowly shook her head before she started to run after him; it was obvious that Ash wasn't going to wait any longer for that Gym battle after their adventure on Route 102.

Meanwhile, Ash stopped when he was standing on the edge of the path overlooking Petalburg City. "Look at that! It's Petalburg City!" Ash gasped with a smile of amazement on his face. "(You're right! There it is!)" Pikachu agreed. Sure enough, down on the bottom of the hill Ash could see the city from, there were several different buildings amongst a large group of trees surrounding the area. Seeing the city now within view, Ash's smile of excitement grew larger and he could feel his heart race in anticipation.

"There it is, Pikachu. And that first Hoenn Gym battle is just waiting for us down there!" Ash commented. "(That's right.)" Pikachu agreed; he felt just as much excitement at the moment as Ash did.

Ash was just about to start running down the hill, but then he turned around to see May slowly running over behind him; he then realised that he accidently left her behind in his excitement to finally arrive at their new destination. "Ash, can you please wait for me?" May called. Once she caught up with him, May stopped to catch her breath and she looked rather surprised to see Ash like this. "Would you mind telling me what the rush is about?" May asked. Ash looked over at May with a big smile on his face.

"What do you think? I have a Gym battle down there waiting for me!" Ash replied. With that, he immediately turned around and rushed off down the hill once again leaving May behind. "Yeah, but can we at least slow down?" May called, reaching one arm out in front of her in Ash's direction. Unfortunately, she didn't get a response; Ash was too far away ahead to hear her. Once she knew that she didn't get an answer, May lowered her arm and then looked down sighing in dismay: this was going to be a lot tougher for her to manage than she thought it would be. After a few seconds, May lifted her head up and started to run down the hill after Ash; she was certain that with her slight delay in response time, he was already at the bottom of the hill by this point.

Sure enough, Ash had arrived at the bottom of the hill and was now looking around at how big the city really was. "I can't believe how big Petalburg City. I'd say it's probably larger than what Littleroot Town, and that was already big enough on its own!" Ash commented. Pikachu slowly nodded in agreement; he couldn't agree more with the size of the city being larger than he thought it would be. Ash then turned to Pikachu and suggested "Now how about we start trying to find where the Gym is?"

"(Sounds like a good idea to me.)" Pikachu replied. With this, Ash was about to start walking off ahead before he stopped and turned to notice May running over to catch up with him; it was obvious that he was accidently leaving her behind a few times in his excitement. Once she stopped running to catch her breath, Ash turned to her with a nervous smile on his face.

"Sorry for making you run after me like that, May. It's just that I'm really looking forward to that Gym battle." Ash explained. After about a few seconds to get her breath back, May looked up at Ash and then stood upright showing a small smile and a little frown of annoyance. "Well, that's fair enough. But do you think you could at least wait for me to catch up with you before you start running off ahead like that?" May asked, glaring slightly at him. Ash started rubbing the back of his head and laughed nervously; it was obvious that a few of his bad habits were still catching up with him. May couldn't help herself smiling noticing that she made Ash a bit nervous and then she stood upright; there was not a chance she could stay mad at Ash for too long, since it wasn't his fault that he was so excited.

"Well now that we're both here, how about we start working on trying to find where the Gym is?" Ash suggested. May nearly jumped back at this and an expression of worry crossed her face: once they found the Gym, that meant Ash was going to learn who the Gym Leader was and she would probably get into trouble with him for not saying anything. She got so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice that Ash was already walking off ahead. However, Ash noticed that May wasn't following him and turned around to see her just standing there. "May, what's wrong? Aren't you coming as well?" he asked. May promptly snapped out of her worried stance and showed a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I'll be right over! Don't worry!" May called waving to Ash. With that, she quickly ran over and the two started to head off through the city to find the Gym. As the two were walking, May couldn't help herself worrying again; she knew that since Ash heard the mention that there was a new Gym Leader here, he had been trying to figure out who it was. And once he noticed that she had been acting fidgety around the topic, he had started to wonder if she knew who it could be. Of course, May denied any sort of knowledge about the subject matter, but it was obvious that she wasn't telling Ash the truth and now that they were here, her lie was going to be exposed for what it was. _'I just hope he doesn't get too mad to me once he finds out.' _May worriedly thought to herself; she wasn't sure what she would do if Ash had that kind of reaction.

However, May's thoughts were interrupted when Ash ended up breaking her bubble of contemplation. "May, look at this!" Ash said. May quickly snapped out of her thinking mode and looked with Ash to see that he found; he was pointing at a light brown sign in front of them that had a map showing the entire area of Petalburg City, complete with pictures showing specific areas of the city. "Looks like the Gym is just this way. We's nearly there." Ash commented pointing on the picture of a building that was towards the right of where the two were standing. Now that they knew where they were and where the Gym was, that means they could get there as soon as possible. Ash then nodded in confirmation with a destination in mind, and was about to run off ahead when he was stopped by someone holding him by the shoulder. Caught off guard by this, Ash turned his head to see that May was the one holding him back. "May, what are you doing? I want to get to that Gym battle." Ash explained with Pikachu nodding in agreement. May showed a smile: she had an idea to keep Ash busy for a few minutes.

"I know that, but unfortunately I think the Gym is closed at the moment." May replied. Ash showed an expression of confusion replacing his previous one of annoyance wondering what May was talking about. May then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's right. The Gym Leader left Petalburg just before we got here and probably won't be back until another hour from now." May continued. Ash stared in disbelief upon hearing that the Gym Leader was out and then he looked down and sighed in dismay; he was looking forward to that Gym Battle, but now he was going to have to wait until the Gym Leader returned before he could even have that battle.

"Well, what am I supposed to do until the Gym Leader gets back?" Ash asked. May then looked down in thought; that left her feeling a bit stumped as well. What were she and Ash going to do for an hour, which would be when the Gym Leader got back? May looked around in both directions for a few moments, and then a bright smile crossed her face when she noticed the playground just right beside them. With this, she turned to Ash having a destination in mind.

"We could head over there for a while." May suggested, pointing over at the direction the playground was. Ash turned to see what May was talking about and when he noticed the area she was talking about, a bright smile crossed his face and he turned around straight to her.

"May, that's a great idea!" Ash smiled. "(Yeah, great idea!)" Pikachu agreed happily nodding. May brightly smiled and nodded; she was glad to see that Ash agreed with her. With that, the two walked over to the area where the playground was and sat down on two of the small sitting stones that were there looking at each other, while Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and climbed up onto the middle one sitting right between the two Trainers.

"So Ash, this Gym battle really is a big deal, isn't it?" May asked. "Yeah, it is. If I win the Gym battle here, I can get a Badge. And once when I win eight of those badges, I can compete in the Hoenn League." Ash explained. So far, he had been in both the Indigo League in Kanto and the Silver Conference in Johto, and now this was going to be the third Pokemon League he would compete in. And Ash was hoping he would really do better than he did in the first two leagues; as a matter of fact, he was really hoping he would end up losing. True, it did seem like a bit of an exaggeration for the time being, but once he got there that would be a completely different story.

"Wow, that really sounds exciting." May commented, an impressed smile on her face. Pikachu happily nodded in agreement; competing in a Pokemon League was definitely one of the most exhilarating feelings to ever experience in a Pokemon adventure.

"You want to compete in the Hoenn League as well, don't you?" Ash asked, turning to May. May nearly jumped at the mention at this; she hadn't even mentioned her dislike of Pokemon to Ash. But then she smiled nervously with a sweat-drop appearing on the side of her head. "Well...of course I do." May nervously replied. Seemingly not noticing her nerves, Ash showed a bright smile hearing that May wanted to compete as well.

"I thought so." Ash commented. He then looked in the direction that the Petalburg Gym was. "I have to admit, I wonder who the new Gym Leader is. I hope I can get to find out when they get back." Ash then added. May showed a small smile of relief hearing this; while she could tell Ash still didn't know who the Gym Leader was, she still wasn't completely in the clear just yet.

"Well, I'm sure they're really nice." May commented. Ash quickly turned his glance back to May and he had an expression of surprise hearing May say that. "May, do you know who the Gym Leader is?" he asked. Ash knew that May had been very touchy whenever he brought that up, hence that was the reason why he never made any mention of the subject manner, but now that they were here he couldn't help but wonder if May had any idea of who it could be.

May nearly jumped hearing that question and then she looked away with a nervous smile. "Well, I don't know them all that well, but..." May then jumped up from sitting on the stone on her feet. "The word I've heard on the street is that they're very kind and strong, and I've also heard that they're really amazing and a really great person." May explained, getting herself into different poses during her explanation such as pressing both her hands across both sides of her body, having one hand on her right hip while her other hand was underneath her chin like she was thinking and cupping both hands together against her cheek while slowly moving back and forth like she was gushing over them. Ash couldn't help but watch in surprise; he had to wonder if May really know who the Gym Leader was.

"It sounds to me like you know them very well." Ash commented. May then jumped from her pose and looked away nervously while pressing her two forefingers together. "No, but...I just wish I did." she worriedly replied; to her, it seemed like she let out a little too much information for her own good. She then turned her gaze to Ash while still not turning her body as he promptly stood up with a smile on his face having an idea.

"Hey, I know! How about you come over to the Gym with me and we can meet the Gym Leader together when they get back?" Ash suggested. May then showed a nervous smile while dwindling her two forefingers up and down rapidly; her nerves were clearly starting to get the better of her.

"Well, I would, but..." May nervously stated. She then turned and started to walk out of the playground area while Ash watched on wondering what had gotten into her. "I just need to take care of a few things first and then I'll be right over there." May explained. Ash stared in disbelief, but before he had a chance to respond, May quickly scampered off while waving to him. "I'll see you later!" May called as she rushed off. Once she got to a safe enough distance, May stopped waving and started to pick up her running speed to get as far away from the Gym as possible. She couldn't bring herself to do it; she couldn't bring herself to be there once Ash learnt who the Gym Leader was.

Back at the playground at the same time, Ash and Pikachu were both watching as May left. "(See you, May!)" Pikachu called, waving with a big smile on her face. Ash was staring in puzzlement wondering why May was acting like this. "Okay...I'll see you soon, May." Ash was simply able to get out. Once May got a bit further away, Ash looked down at Pikachu. "Well, I guess May won't be coming with us. How about we start heading over to the Gym now?" he suggested. Pikachu nodded in agreement, so he jumped up onto Ash's shoulder and the two started to head over to the Gym; even though no one was there, Ash figured it would be best to head over there and just wait until the Gym Leader returned.

As Ash was walking over there, he couldn't stop thinking about the way that May was behaving; he wasn't sure why, but something just seemed a bit off about it. He hadn't seen May acting this hesitant and uncertain about a topic like this; he just couldn't make sense of what it was about asking about who the new Gym Leader was that made May act this unusually. Pikachu noticed that his friend seemed lost at thought and tapped Ash on the side of his head, prompting him to look over at the little electric mouse. "(Ash, what's the matter?)" Pikachu asked: he figured that May wasn't the only one who had been behaving oddly.

"I just don't get it, Pikachu. Why is May so reluctant to talk about the Gym Leader here? It's not like her to be acting this way, so I don't know what's gotten into her." Ash explained. Pikachu nodded in understanding as he listened; it seemed that he wasn't the only one who noticed. Ash then looked up as a thought crossed his mind; it sounded very strange to be sure, but he figured that maybe it was the reason for May's behaviour. "Do you think that...maybe May knows who the Gym Leader here is?" Ash suggested turning to Pikachu with that question. Pikachu scratched his chin in thought for a few moments before he shrugged; he really couldn't be certain about that, but it definitely seemed to make sense. "Maybe May can fill me in on everything when she arrives." Ash commented. He knew that he didn't want to question May about the whole thing, especially since he understood that she was somewhat unwilling to talk about it, but it was starting to become unavoidable by this point. Pikachu then turned his gaze to the path ahead of them, and a big smile immediately crossed his face.

"(Ash, we're here!)" Pikachu said, pointing forward. Ash turned his head in the direction Pikachu was pointing at and noticed that he was standing in front of a large building that had a sliding door at the front, a dark blue roof and a large golden symbol on the head of the building with a Pokeball symbol in the middle; this looked like it was the Petalburg Gym without any doubts.

"You're right. Well, here we are. You ready, Pikachu? Let's go give it our best!" Ash said, turning to Pikachu with a confident smile. "(You got it!)" Pikachu replied immediately nodding; he was looking forward to finally doing some battling. So with that, Ash headed up the steps and came to the front door, which he slowly pushed to the side and stepped inside the building to see that it was mostly empty. Ash then closed the door behind him and started to look around wondering where everyone was. "Hello? Is anyone there? I'm here for my Gym battle." Ash called as he walked down the hallway with him and Pikachu looking around to see if anyone was there.

Inside his room, Max Maple was lying on the floor happily watching a video on his TV. Max had short raven-coloured hair and he was wearing a light-green t-shirt that had a white collar and button, dark brown shorts and green sneakers that had a black spot in the middle and a white stripe on the end and he also wore a pair of glasses. Though Max was ten years old, his height made him seem like he was still seven. He was watching a video of the Silver Conference when he heard Ash calling from out in the hallways. "Who could that be? Don't they know that I'm in the middle of something?" Max asked, an expression of irritation crossing his face. He stood up, grabbed a book that was on the floor beside him and headed out of his room to figure out who was inside. Max soon came to the battling area and stood out at the door with Ash, who had only come inside and didn't notice he was there, looking around wondering where the Gym Leader was. "Can you please keep it down? I'm right in the middle of watching a video of the Silver Conference." Max explained. He then stepped into the room while Ash, noticing the little guy standing behind him, turned around smiling nervously.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I'm just trying to find the Gym Leader." Ash replied. Max then looked up to see Ash and immediately pointed at him with a big smile of excitement, causing Ash to stare in surprise.

"Wow! It's really you!" Max exclaimed. "Yeah, that's right. But...how do you know me?" Ash asked. Max's eyes had a brown tint much like Ash's, and it had become visible due to Max's excitement to seeing Ash.

"You were in the Johto League Silver Conference!" Max replied. Ash pointed to himself and nodded in agreement with a bright smile on his face; that was true. "You lost in the second round." Max then added. Ash then looked down and sighed in dismay, as did Pikachu as he got off Ash's shoulder and mimicked Ash's pose; that was something Ash didn't want to be reminded of. Max then looked away as he tried to remember Ash's name. "Hold on. Don't tell me. Your name...is Alf!" Max then stated, turning right back around and pointing to Ash. Ash then dropped down on his knees with even more dismay with Pikachu looking at him in concern.

"Actually, it's Ash." Ash corrected. Max then looked down to see Pikachu and happily pointed at him. "And there's your Pikachu!" Max added. He then came over and picked Pikachu up happily hugging him while not noticing Pikachu's discomfort in the whole thing. "Hi there, Pikachu. My name's Max." Max said. Ash then sat up wondering what was going on and Max turned to him with a big smile.

"I watched you compete at the Silver Conference live and I've been watching the videos I made of it ever since." Max explained. Ash had to admit that he was surprised; he was so caught up in all the battles that he didn't notice that Max had been watching. Max then leaned over with his face right in front of Ash, much to the latter's annoyance. "Yeah! You lost in the second round, and then you got beaten by Harrison and his Blaziken and that was it for you!" Max continued. Ash then glared at Max doing his best not to lose his patience at the kid, but it was obvious that Max was certainly testing Ash's patience.

"You don't need to keep talking the battles I lost. Besides, I did make it to the Victory Tournament, you know." Ash replied. "I know! Your battle was so awesome! I was at the edge of my seat the whole time." Max agreed. He could still remember the battle like it was only yesterday...

Charizard and Blaziken were hurling attacks back and forth at each other one after the others, such as Blaziken's Flamethrower against Charizard's Flamethrower. And no matter how much the two threw at each other or how much damage they took, they just kept getting back up: it was like neither of them wanted to give up. Ash stood at his side with confidence; he was sure that he was going to claim this victory for himself. "All right! Good job, Charizard! Now use Flamthrower!" Ash called, ready to end this battle for good. Charizard then got ready to attack, but unfortunately exhaustion from the battle suddenly caught up with him and Charizard collapsed.

"Now if you had to do that battle again, don't you think you would have used Charizard's attacks more effectively?" Max asked pressing two fingers under his chin. Ash nearly flinched hearing this: was Max trying to tell him how to battle? "If I was there, I would have won that battle easily. You've still got a long way to go!" Max commented as he looked away standing smugly. Ash stared at disbelief before he decided that maybe he should set this kid straight.

"Hold on a minute there, Max. It's one thing to see it on TV and another to actually be battling. You don't realise how tough it really is until you get out there!" Ash explained. Max didn't seem to pay any attention because he stared over at Ash with a smug smile on his face.

"So, do I detect some sour grapes?" Max asked. Ash's mouth nearly dropped open in shock seeing how sure of himself Max was acting. Max then looked away and commented "You've got some nerve coming here after losing in the second round." That seemed to do it for Ash because he nearly felt ready to snap at Max at this point.

"I told you, it was the second round of the Victory Tournament! Don't you get it?! You need to be a very experienced Trainer to be able to get that far!" Ash yelled. Pikachu couldn't help but stare up at Ash in worry; he was starting to think that Ash was starting to get mad a little too easily.

"But you still lost though, right?" Max immediately asked, adjusting his glasses. Ash's face promptly turned red in embarrassment before he decided that he wasn't going to put up with this nonsense any longer.

"That's it! I don't want to talk about this anymore, got it?! I just came to look for the Gym Leader." Ash retorted. Max then turned away and adjusted his glasses causing them to gleam a little. "The Gym Leader, huh? Well, that's me." Max stated. Ash's eyes promptly turned into small black dots and he had an expression of surprise on his face; this wasn't exactly who he was expecting considering the information he got from May. "Oh yeah! The Petalburg Gym Leader is none other than yours truly!" Max announced before happily posing with one arm on his hip. Ash simply stared in silence: this wasn't exactly who he had in mind.

Meanwhile with May, she was having a walk around the city looking at all the buildings. "I never seem to remember just how large this city really is until I come back here." May commented. She then stopped walking and sat down on a park bench that was right behind her; she knew the real reason why she had come out here. It was because she was scared to face Ash once he learnt who the Gym Leader really was. She looked down at the ground with an expression of sadness as she came to realise this on her own. "Why am I bothering trying to hide it from Ash? He'll be bound to find out sooner or later." May sighed. She then slowly looked up and then a firm expression came to her face and she nodded as she made her decision: she wasn't going to keep Ash in the dark about the whole thing any longer. She was going to go over to the Gym and tell Ash the truth herself. "Hopefully he'll understand." May said to herself. With this, she got up from the park bench and started to make her way over to the Gym.

"May, it's wonderful to see you!" Hearing that voice behind her, May turned around to see who it was and a bright smile immediately crossed her face. Standing there was a man with short dark blue hair wearing a maroon coloured vest with small black stripes on it, dark blue pants and black shoes and a woman with light brown coloured hair wearing a sleeveless light orange dress that had a cream coloured strap on the top, a bright pink strap tied around her waist and the bottom of the dress was a brown colour with an orange patch on the side along with white sandals: their names were Norman and Caroline. May could recognize the two in an instant.

"Mum! Dad! It's great to see you!" May called happily waving to them. Without any hesitance, she ran over and tightly hugged Caroline. "I didn't think you'd be back for at least another hour." May commented as she looked up at Caroline with a big smile.

"Well, we thought that we'd come back early just to see if you would be here. But we didn't expect that you'd be home so quickly." Caroline replied. "Did you get your Pokemon from Professor Birch?" Norman asked. May happily nodded in agreement, and then she suddenly remembered that she was heading back to the Gym and she also knew her reasoning for it.

"Mum, Dad, there's someone I'd like you to meet. He's over at the Gym where Max is. Come on, follow me." May explained. With this, she turned around and started to head off to the Gym. Norman and Caroline both looked at each other wondering what was going on before they started to follow May.

May didn't take long to arrive at the Gym; she was running over there after all. As she came to the side of the building to go to the front door, she could hear what sounded like arguing coming from inside the arena. So she walked over to the window and poked her head up to see what was happening and she could see Ash and Max in there, with Ash trying not to get into an argument with him. "Hey, what's going on in here?" May asked. Ash and Max both turned their heads to see her and Ash immediately smiled.

"May, there you are! I was wondering when you were going to come over." Ash commented. Max stared at Ash in surprise and then immediately turned to him.

"Wait. You know my sister?" Max asked. "May's your sister?" Ash asked in response. Norman and Caroline then arrived and looked through the window to see the two boys.

"Well now, do we have here? Is this your friend, May?" Norman asked. May nodded in agreement; that was definitely him. "Hello there. Nice to meet you." Caroline said. Ash stared in surprise wondering who these two were, while Max smiled nervously, and then he looked over at May.

"May, what's going on here?" Ash asked. Sometime later, everyone was inside and sitting on the side seats that were in the arena. May was sitting beside Ash so she could clarify everything for him since she knew that he had more than a few questions for her, one of which she knew she had to address.

"Ash, I'd like you to meet my parents. Mum, Dad, Ash joined me on the way here and he's been keeping me safe the whole time." May explained. Ash couldn't help himself smiling hearing May say that, but he figured that maybe they should get the more important matters out of the way first. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Norman." Norman said. "And I'm Caroline." Caroline added.

"And you've already met my brother, Max?" May asked. Ash nodded in agreement and then he glared at Max, who nearly jumped back in surprise seeing how annoyed Ash was at this. May then figured that now was the time to get the major issue out of the way; the one she wanted to address with Ash all this time, but she could never bring herself to. "You see, Ash..." May then sighed a little before she decided to go for it. "My dad's the Gym Leader of Petalburg City." Ash gasped in disbelief at this and then he turned his gaze to Norman to see if that was true, to which Norman nodded in confirmation.

That was when it all made sense to Ash. The reason for May's odd behaviour on the way here was because her dad was the Petalburg City Gym Leader. "May, does that mean that Petalburg City's where you live? And you're also a Gym Leader's daughter?" Ash asked, trying to make sure he had the story straight. May then slowly turned her gaze away; she was afraid that Ash was going to ask that. Now all she needed was his reaction to this. So, deciding that there was no turning back for her, she looked up at him and simply nodded. After about a few seconds of silence, Ash showed a bright smile. "May, that's so awesome! How come you didn't say so earlier?" he asked. May couldn't help herself looking down at sadness; while she was relieved that Ash wasn't angry with her, she could tell that he was wondering about why she kept him in the dark about the whole thing.

"I know, Ash. I'm sorry I didn't say a word to you about it. I really wanted to tell you from the start, but...I guess I just got too scared thinking about what you were going to say once I said it. I didn't want you to think that I was one of those people who boasted about their relations to a Gym Leader just to get attention. Plus, I didn't want to make a bad impression on you. I knew that it wasn't the right thing to do keeping it all a secret from you, but I did it anyway. And I understand if you get upset with me at all; I largely deserve it." May confessed. Ash stared at May in disbelief; why would he be upset with her? She hadn't been afraid to just go out and tell him the truth without thinking about what he would say. Ash then showed a soft smile and placed his hand on top of May's, prompting her to look over at him in surprise.

"May, it's all right. I'm not upset or angry with you in the slightest. I'm just glad you decided to be honest and tell me everything, rather than try and work your way out of the situation. While you did hide the truth from me, you didn't have any malicious intent while doing so. You just cared about what I would think, and then you decided that you should just tell me the truth. And for me, that's really all that matters." Ash explained. Pikachu happily nodded in agreement; he was glad that May was honest as well. May slowly showed a bright smile and then she nodded knowing Ash was right; all that mattered to him was that she was honest with him.

"We really appreciate you coming along with May all the way home." Caroline commented. "Oh, it was nothing. I just wasn't going to let May try and make the route here on her own, otherwise something bad might have happened to her." Ash replied. May's smile quickly grew larger at this comment: it was true that Ash had been keeping her safe on the way here. Max then quickly jumped out of his seat and ran over to Ash pointing to him.

"Mum, Dad, this is the guy who lost in the second round of the Silver Conference." Max quickly said. Ash then started to glare at Max and balled his fists, trying not to lose his temper. "I told you before, it was the second round of the Victory Tournament..." Ash retorted.

"His name's Alf!" Max quickly blurted showing a smug smile. "And my name's not Alf, it's Ash." Ash added, feeling about ready to lose his temper at Max; he had been doing nothing but taunting him the whole time he had been here. Ash then showed an expression of annoyance and crossed his arms, glaring at Max. "So you're not really the Gym Leader, are you?" he asked.

"Of course I'm not, silly. Can't you tell I'm only ten?" Max asked adjusting his glasses. Ash started to growl angrily; he honestly had no idea how much longer he can take this nonsense, but he knew it wouldn't be too long before he lost it. Ash then felt someone tapping his arm and turned to see that it was Pikachu. Pikachu then jumped up on his feet and took a deep breath before letting it out; he was trying to let Ash know how to calm himself down. Ash then nodded as he got the idea before trying it himself, and he found that he was actually feeling a lot better.

Caroline then remembered that May didn't have her bike with her and looked over at May. "May, what happened to your bike?" she asked. "Well..." May nervously replied, remembering what happened.

_Pikachu glared at the machine before electrocuting with the strongest bolt of electricity he had ever released, sending small bolts flying all over the place. As May watched with Ash lying unconscious in her arms, she turned her gaze to see her bike get electrocuted into a crisp. "My bike's been barbequed!" May gasped in horror._

"I'm sorry for that, May." Ash simply stated with him and Pikachu bowing their heads. "(Yeah, sorry.)" Pikachu agreed; even though it wasn't directly his fault, he still felt that he was responsible for May's bike becoming a wreck.

"That's not a big deal. Bikes are replaceable." Norman replied. "And walking is better for your health, anyway." Caroline added. May then turned to Ash and happily rested her head against him. "What made it even better was that I got to spend time with Ash." she added. Ash couldn't help himself smiling brightly; that was another bonus as well.

"So, May, what Pokemon did you get from Professor Birch?" Norman asked. "Yeah, show us! What did you get, sis?" Max asked. May grabbed out the Pokeball that had Torchic in it and threw it, causing it open and release Torchic who had a big smile on her face. Upon seeing her, Max didn't look so thrilled.

"What?! Why'd you pick Torchic? If I got to choose, I definitely would have picked a Treecko." Max commented. That didn't seem to sit well with Torchic because she glared at Max before lunging forward and rapidly pecking him. Ash watched this scene on with his arms crossed and a big grin of satisfaction on his face and Pikachu looked like he was trying not to burst out in laughter. May didn't look as happy however; in fact, she was staring at this scene in shock.

"Torchic, stop it right now!" May called, with Torchic seemingly not paying any attention to her. Since May was standing in the way, Norman and Caroline couldn't see Torchic attacking Max.

"I think Torchic's a fine Pokemon to choose, May." Norman said. "Not to mention that it's cute as a button!" Caroline added. May brightly smiled at this, hearing that her parents liked her choice of Pokemon. Meanwhile, Torchic had just finished pecking Max and was glaring at him, while Max looked at her with bruises all over him.

"Man, I can't wait until I get my own Pokemon. I'd love to have a Treecko." Max commented. That set Torchic off again as she started rapidly pecking Max all over again. Ash, who was watching this all the while, could tell that this was going a bit too far. Norman and Caroline still couldn't see Torchic attacking because of May standing in front of them.

"Ash, why don't you join us for lunch? I'm sure you must be starving." Caroline offered. Ash then looked up at her with a big smile. "Yeah, that'd be great! I sure am hungry." Ash agreed. Sometime later, everyone was in the kitchen eating: Ash and the others were munching on sandwiches while the Pokemon, except for Pikachu who was sitting at the table, were munching on bowls of Pokemon food.

"May told me that you've been travelling for a long time." Caroline said. "Yeah, I have. I've been to a lot of different places. And I haven't been travelling alone, either. I've actually been travelling with some of my friends, and Pikachu, of course." Ash explained looking over at Pikachu sitting next to him. May was sitting at the head of the table and she was listening intently to everything Ash was saying.

"That's good to hear. Travelling with friends is always a lot easier." Norman commented. "Yeah, and it's a lot more fun too." Ash replied nodding in agreement. Max had been listening to all of this and he honestly felt a bit jealous hearing Ash's experiences.

"Man, that all sounds so cool. I wish I could travel to different places with some of my friends as well. That'd be great." Max commented. May then looked over at Norman having remembered something that they completely neglected up until now.

"Dad, Ash would make to have a Gym Battle with you." May said. "Yeah, I hope that's okay." Ash agreed.

"Of course, Ash. How many badges have you earned so far?" Norman asked. "I'm just getting started so this will be the first badge I get." Ash explained. He then realised something that he didn't clarify earlier. "So what are the rules of the Petalburg Gym?" Ash then asked.

"I told you earlier. It's a three-on-three battle, remember?" Max asked in response. Hearing that suddenly didn't help Ash much: he only had two Pokemon at his disposal, Pikachu and Larvitar. Max then looked over at the two and smugly smiled. "You mean you only have two Pokemon with you? No wonder you lost in the Silver Conference." Max commented. Ash then glared at Max and he had to wonder how many times Max was going to bring that up before he and May left today.

"If you were able to compete in the Silver Conference, you must have a lot of Pokemon." Norman said. "Yeah I do, but I left them behind at Pallet Town." Ash replied.

"You know, you could have your Pokemon transferred to you at the Pokemon Centre." Caroline suggested. "I could, but I really wanted to start over and only use Pokemon that I catch here in Hoenn. And as soon as I catch more Pokemon, I'll come back here for my battle." Ash explained. May couldn't help herself smiling as she listened to this all the while: it was obvious to her that Ash was actually quite an experienced Trainer.

"Well, since you came all this way, I'll battle you. Of course, it won't be an official Gym battle." Norman replied. Ash immediately stood up getting out of his seat hearing this. Caroline turned to Norman with a smile and commented "That's very nice, Norman." Ash wasn't bothered by the fact that the battle wouldn't be official; he was just glad that Norman was willing to battle despite that.

"That's okay. I still really appreciate it. Thanks!" Ash happily replied. Sometime later after lunch, the group were out at the arena: Ash and Norman were standing on either side of the arena, while May, Max and Caroline were all sitting on the back seats watching the battle. "All right, let's go, Pikachu!" Ash said looking down at his partner Pokemon. Since Larvitar didn't feel confident enough for battling yet, May was holding him in her arms so he could watch the battle.

"Ash seems pretty confident for having only one Pokemon." Max commented. May turned to Max with an expression of annoyance. "Will you stop it, Max?! Ash actually has two, but this one's still only a baby and doesn't feel ready to battle yet." May retorted. She then looked back at the arena feeling confident in having shut Max up; she was watching Ash's side. "Do your best out there, Ash." May said to herself; she knew that she would be supporting him the whole time.

"All right, Vigoroth, I choose you!" Norman called, throwing a Pokeball into the arena which opened and released what looked like a medium-sized white-skinned monkey-like Pokemon with black claws on both its hands and feet, a puff of red hair on the top of its head, brown markings on its back, around its eyes and underneath its jaw and a big red nose.

"Vigoroth?" Ash asked nearly stepping back in surprise. He then grabbed out his Pokedex to find out about this Pokemon. "Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokemon. Vigoroth is only comfortable going berserk and destroys anything in its way by spinning its arms, and goes even more beserk when it's done." The Pokedex explained. Ash looked up to see that Vigoroth already looked restless for battle as it was moving its arms back and forth; he could tell that this was going to be tough if he wasn't careful. Vigoroth immediately let out a roar startling both Ash and Pikachu.

"Check it out! Dad's Vigoroth is already raring to go!" Max commented with a big smile. May started to get worried; Ash was going to have a tough time if he wasn't careful. "Be careful, Ash. Vigoroth is pretty strong." May quietly commented. Ash could already tell that Vigoroth was going to be tough since, if its appearance was anything to go by, it would be expertise in strong physical attacks.

"All right, Pikachu, let's go!" Ash called. Pikachu then jumped out into the arena ready to go. "Vigoroth, use Scratch!" Norman said. With that, Vigoroth started to charge forward ready to lunge at Pikachu with its claws. However, Ash was going to get one step ahead of Norman's moves.

"Pikachu, dodge it!" Ash called. Pikachu then jumped out of the way as Vigoroth was left striking at the ground in front of them and watched as Pikachu flew over its head before landing safely on the other side. "All right! Now use Quick Attack!" Ash said, a big smile crossing his face that he was starting to gain the advantage right at the beginning. Pikachu then turned right around and started charging towards Vigoroth at full speed before slamming straight into it. "Yeah! Great job!" Ash cheered, thrilled by his success so far.

"Vigoroth, use Slash!" Norman said, not willing to let Ash beat him that easily. Vigoroth then charged towards Pikachu with its claws glowing bright white and, before Pikachu had a chance to react, directly hit Pikachu sending him rolling backwards across the ground. From outside, the Rocket Trio were looking through the bottom window and could see Vigoroth.

"Maybe we don't want Pikachu after all." James commented. "Not if we grab that Vigoroth instead. Its natural nastiness would make a perfect fit for Team Rocket." Jessie agreed. Meowth then jumped away from the window having an idea. "Yeah, but if we gave it to the Boss, it would be even better!" Meowth explained.

"And if we gave him both, it would be even better than that!" Jessie added. The Rocket Trio both cheered in unison and Wobbuffet popped out of his Pokeball blurting "Wobbuffet!"

Back inside the Gym, Ash was ready to get out his next move. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt now!" Ash called. Pikachu jumped up into the air and released a strong bolt of electricity at Vigoroth, but Vigoroth straight away moved out of the way and continued running dodging further electric strikes. Ash had to admit, not only was Vigoroth really strong, it was also fast to match. But then, noticing an opening, Ash saw his chance. "Use Quick Attack!" he called. Pikachu then lunged forward and slammed straight into Vigoroth. On the side seats, Caroline, May and Max were all watching on impressed.

"I didn't think they would have a chance against Norman's Vigoroth." Caroline commented. "Yeah, Ash is good, isn't he?" May asked. "Of course he's good! He did make it to the Championship Tournament of the Silver Conference, you know." Max exclaimed. May had to admit, she didn't think that Ash would be able to live up to the reputation that preceded him. But watching him battling do well against Norman made her notice that maybe Ash was as strong as he was made out to be.

Seeing how well Ash was doing, Norman decided that it was time to stop out all the stops for this. "Vigoroth, use Scratch!" Norman called. Vigoroth lunged with its claws shining bright white and then charged with full force towards Pikachu, but Ash had an idea: he just needed to be certain that it would work to his advantage. "Pikachu, wait until Vigoroth gets close and then jump!" Ash called. "(Got it!)" Pikachu agreed, nodding once.

"Do you think he's just going to let Dad beat him that easily?" Max asked. "I don't think so, Max. I'll bet Ash has an idea." May replied. She was right: Ash was waiting for Vigoroth to come within a close enough distance for this to work. Once Vigoroth was no less than a few steps away from Pikachu, that was when Ash saw his opportunity.

"Now, Pikachu!" Without any hesitance, Pikachu jumped out of the way leaving Vigoroth still running at full speed. Vigoroth glanced back to see Pikachu in the air, and then turned its head to find that it was charging straight towards the wall. Before Vigoroth could even get a chance to lower its speed, it slammed head-first right into the wall leaving it stunned. Pikachu landed safely on the ground and turned to see this and Ash saw his chance to finish this battle. "All right, Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu then released a strong bolt of electricity towards Vigoroth completely electrocuting it. After about a few seconds, Pikachu stopped to see Vigoroth shaking slightly with little electric bolts still crackling around it and then Vigoroth dropped down on the floor, knocked out.

"I don't believe it. Ash won!" Max gasped in disbelief. May wasn't shocked like Max was, she was amazed that Ash pulled it off. "All right, Ash! You won!" May cheered, jumping out of her seat thrilled.

"Yeah, we did it! Great job, Pikachu!" Ash cheered as Pikachu happily ran over and jumped into his arms, thrilled by their victory. Norman then went over to check if Vigoroth was okay, and then looked up at Ash with a smile.

"Well, you really are strong, Ash. Good job." Norman commented. Ash turned to Norman with a smile. "Thanks. There are a lot of strong Pokemon in Hoenn, huh?" he asked, turning to Pikachu who had now climbed up onto his shoulder. Pikachu nodded in agreement; Ash was certainly right about this.

Just then, the whole Gym shook and a large cloud of smoke kicked up which caused Max who was still on the seat to fall over. "What was that?" May asked. The group looked outside from the large hole that had been broken on the wall to see the Rocket Trio standing on top of a large stone boulder side by side. Meowth was standing beside Jessie and James and Wobbuffet popped up blurting "Wobbuffet!"

"It's Team Rocket!" May gasped. Caroline stared in surprise and then turned to May. "Do you know these people, May?" she asked. May looked up at her mum and nodded. "Yeah, I do. They're always up to no good and try to steal other people's Pokemon!" May explained.

"We're not your run of the mill criminals." Jessie commented. "We do bad things with style." James said. "We'll rob you, but we'll do it with a smile." Meowth added.

"Well, you don't look very stylish." Max commented, adjusting his glasses looking none too impressed with their appearance. Unfortunately, that made Jessie angry.

"We're here for your Pokemon!" she snapped. With this, she sent out Arbok while James sent out Weezing. "Use Smokescreen!" James called. Weezing opened its two mouths sending out a large amount of green smoke out that covered the entire gym area and making it hard to see for everyone.

"Now, Arbok, give them your Headbutt!" Jessie smiled. Arbok then charged forward and slammed head-first into Pikachu.

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped. "Vigoroth, let's go!" Norman called. Vigoroth then lunged forward, but Weezing moved out of the way and because of the large amount of smoke, Vigoroth couldn't see where Weezing went. Watching this, May then stepped forward grabbing out one of her Pokeballs.

"Don't worry! I'll see if I can help! Torchic, let's go!" May called as she threw the Pokeball out which caused it to open and release Torchic out into the arena. "All right, Torchic, use Ember!" May said, pointing forward. As Arbok was coming foward to slam into Torchic, Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak which surprisingly hit Arbok. "All right, I got them!" May smiled, thrilled to see that she was getting better at battling.

Jessie didn't see this because she was busy with other targets. "And now we'll be taking Pikachu and Vigoroth with us!" she announced. "We'll see about that. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash replied. With this, Pikachu sent out a strong bolt of electricity into the air. Once the smoke cleared up, Ash turned to see that he had accidently hit Max.

"Oh, Max, I'm sorry! Are you okay?" Ash asked. "Well, it's one thing to learn about Pikachu's Thunderbolt on TV and another thing to actually feel it. It's certainly impressive." Max commented before rolling over on his back and letting out a sigh.

"Team Rocket's gone!" May noticed. As the group looked around, they could see that the Rocket Trio didn't take either Pikachu or Vigoroth since the two Pokemon were still here. May started looking around and she immediately showed an expression of worry seeing someone was missing. "May, what's wrong?" Ash asked, turning to notice her.

"Torchic's gone!" May cried. The others gasped in alarm upon hearing this, and then they immediately ran outside through the large hole and looked up to see the Rocket Trio leaving in their Meowth balloon, and Jessie was holding a sack on her back that had a Pokemon squirming inside it: it had to be Torchic.

"Just like we said: service with a smile." Jessie commented while James and Meowth were taunting the others down on the ground. "Have a nice day!" The Rocket Trio then called in unison as the balloon drifted away. Once they got further away, May dropped down on her knees in despair while the others looked down at her.

"Now what am I going to do? I just got Torchic." May said, sounding pretty close to crying as she placed her hands on the ground and lowered her head. Ash then knelt down next to her and placed one hand on her shoulder, prompting her to look up at him. "Don't worry, May. I'll get Torchic back, I promise." Ash softly explained.

Meanwhile, the Rocket Trio had landed their balloon and were getting ready to grab their catch out from the bag. "Well, one out of two's not bad. Vigoroth wasn't a successful catch, but at least we finally got that Pikachu." Jessie commented. She grabbed out a pair of green rubber gloves and put them on just to be on the safe side, and then she bent down and opened up the sack. "Hello, Pikachu!" she smiled, lifting up the Pokemon they got, but then her smile faded when she met with an orange chick Pokemon staring her in the eyes. The Rocket Trio all stared in shock: they grabbed the wrong Pokemon.

"That sure ain't Pikachu." Meowth commented. James walked over to see what they grabbed instead. "It's a Torchic." he noticed. Torchic turned her head to look at James with a nasty glare, and then she opened her beak and shot out small blasts of fire at James slightly scorching his hair.

"Oh, this is all wrong. You're so tiny, definitely not Team Rocket material." Jessie commented, as she looked over at James before looking back at Torchic. "We'll be laughed straight out of the Boss's office." James sighed looking down at the ground after Torchic attacked him. "But if we can use this Torchic to go back and grab Pikachu, then everything will be okay." Meowth explained. The Rocket Trio then cheered, glad to know that they had a backup plan.

Meanwhile, Ash, May, Max, Norman and Caroline had arrived out in the forest to try and find the Rocket Trio. "I don't think they would have gotten too far by this time." Ash explained. "We'll split up and look. Caroline, you and I will go this way." Norman suggested, turning to Caroline. Caroline nodded in agreement and then the two started to go off further ahead while Ash, May and Max watched on.

"Knowing my Dad, I bet they'll find them." Max said. Ash then turned to May. "Your parents are really great, you know that?" Ash asked. May nodded in agreement; Ash was certainly right about that. Once Norman and Caroline were out of eyesight, Ash looked up with uncertainty: this search would have been made a lot easier if he still had Noctowl with him.

At the same time, Max grabbed out a magnifying glass and bent down on the ground looking through the magnifying glass scanning for any foot prints. "They didn't leave any tracks behind." Max commented. May stared at him in annoyance and simply stated "That's because they left in a balloon!"

"Oh yeah, that's right." Max replied lifting his head. He then stood up and adjusted his glasses like he usually did. "Then it's time to get the old noggin out of neutral and come up with a flawless theory!" Max announced. He then pointed to Ash, who stared in surprise, as he continued "And with Ash as my right hand man on the scene, we'll solve this mystery in no time!"

May now felt her patience with Max wear thin. "Give me a break!" she snapped, after which she then punched Max lightly on the head. Max stared in silence for a few moments before his eyes started to well up and then he dropped down on the ground flailing his arms and legs rapidly while May crossed her arms and sighed in annoyance.

"May hit me! I'm telling!" Max yelled as he started to sob. Ash didn't have any idea of what Max was doing, so he actually thought that he was being serious. "Max, don't cry." Ash said, honestly having no idea how to handle this.

"He's just faking it." May commented. Sure enough, she was right as Max quickly stood up having recovered and adjusted his glasses. "Well, sooner or later, that fake crying stuff was bound to get old." Max stated. Ash stared at Max in disbelief upon realising that he was only pretending and then showed a frown, clearly unsure of what to do with this kid.

"Stop messing around, Max! What about Torchic?" May quickly asked with an expression of worry crossing her face. "Kids!" Hearing that voice, Ash, May and Max nearly jumped back from surprise seeing that Norman and Caroline were back.

"We've located their hot air balloon." Norman said. "We'll get Torchic back." Caroline added. With this, the group started to head off in the direction that the balloon landed. They soon came to a bush and poked their heads out to find the balloon there having landed. "Yeah, there's their balloon." Ash noticed; he could recognize that balloon from a mile away. May then noticed something beside the balloon and gasped in horror.

"Look, there's Torchic!" she cried pointing forward. Sure enough, next to the balloon was a small cage with Torchic inside it and she was looking down feeling close to crying. "Don't worry, Torchic! I'll be right there!" May called. She was about to run over to the cage, but Ash, straight away realising something, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back away. "Ash, what are you doing?! I want to go get Torchic out of that cage!" May yelled, wondering what was wrong with him.

"I know that, but I know what these guys are like. They like to set up traps to make things more difficult for us. Come on, I'll show you what I mean." Ash explained. With this, he and May stepped out from behind the bush and slowly started walk over while Torchic watched on. But just as May took a step forward, the ground suddenly collapsed underneath her feet. May gasped in shock and was about to fall in, but then Ash held her tight by the hand and pulled her back over and the two looked down at the hole right in front of them. "You see what I mean?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks, Ash. I would have fallen in." May replied turning to Ash with a smile of gratitude for his help. The two then turned to see the Rocket Trio standing there and they seemed to be in disbelief that Ash didn't fall for their traps this time.

"That doesn't make sense. Usually you're always the one to drop in." Jessie said. "Well, it looks like I'm one step ahead of you this time around. You ready, Pikachu?" Ash asked, turning to Pikachu on his shoulder. Pikachu nodded in agreement and he jumped off onto the ground ready to take these guys on. Jessie sent out Arbok ready for battle, but Ash seemed to have the upper hand at the moment. "All right, Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash called. Pikachu charged forward at full speed and slammed right into Arbok sending him flying backwards. Meanwhile, Max, Norman and Caroline had arrived while this newly begun battle was taking place.

"How dare you steal someone else's Pokemon, much less stealing my little girl's first Pokemon!" Norman yelled pointing accusingly at the Rocket Trio who didn't seem phased in the slightest. "Looks we've got a big bad mad dad." Jessie commented. "I ain't scared." Meowth added.

"Oh yeah? Go, Vigoroth!" Norman retorted, throwing out a Pokeball which opened and released Vigoroth, and then Vigoroth charged forward and rammed into Arbok. Watching this, James realised that he wasn't going to stand by and let Jessie get taken down like that.

"So you want to play rough, do you? Go, Weezing!" James called Weezing then started to charge forward ready to support Arbok. "Okay, Vigoroth, use Scratch!" Norman said. Vigoroth then started to charge forward ready to take these two down.

While this madness was breaking out in the battlefield, Max slowly snuck over to the balloon to grab the cage Torchic was being held in. "I'll save you, Torchic." Max said reassuringly. Torchic turned to see Max and a soft smile showed on her beak. "(Wow, thank you.)" she replied.

Max then picked up the cage and then ran over to where May was, placing it down on the ground in front of her. "Here you go. You're welcome, sis. It was nothing." Max commented. May showed a bright smile seeing that Max went through that trouble to help her.

"Thanks, Max. You're the best." May smiled. She then bent down and opened the lid of the cage fetching Torchic out. "Are you okay, Torchic?" May asked. Torchic happily nodded in agreement and then started nuzzling up against May's chest while May hugged her tight. "You can stop crying, Torchic. I'm here now!" May gently explained to try and calm Torchic down.

Back on the battle scene, Arbok lunged forward and wrapped her tail around Vigoroth constraining it tight. "Vigoroth!" Norman gasped. Ash quickly noticed this and turned to Pikachu.

"Pikachu, Vigoroth needs help! Let's go!" Ash said. Pikachu nodded in agreement, and then he charged forward and slammed into the back of Arbok trying to get her to release Vigoroth. At the same time, May stepped out onto the field with Torchic standing beside her.

"I'll teach you a lesson for trying to steal my Pokémon! Are you ready, Torchic?" May asked, looking down at the orange chick Pokemon. Torchic prompty nodded in agreement with a determined expression; she was ready to teach these guys a lesson. "All right then, use Ember!" May called pointing over at Arbok. Torchic then jumped forward and shot out small blasts of fire from her beak which hit Arbok directly and caused her to let go of Vigoroth.

"All right, let's finish this off, Vigoroth! Use Quick Attack!" Norman said. Vigoroth charged forward and slammed into both Arbok and Weezing, sending them flying backwards and ramming right into the Rocket Trio who were then knocked back into their balloon.

"We'll take care of this now. Pikachu, let's Thunderbolt them!" Ash smiled. Pikachu jumped up and released a strong bolt of electricity towards the Rocket Trio, completely electrocuting them and the balloon which then caused the balloon to explode and send the Rocket Trio and their Pokemon flying into the sky.

"Why couldn't we have grabbed that Vigoroth instead of a tiny Torchic?" Jessie asked grabbing her head in despair. "From now on, I'll just be happy with whatever we get." James said. "Well, I'd be happy if we just get a life!" Meowth commented. After this, the Rocket Trio were sent flying high into the sky and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

After the Rocket Trio were gone, May happily picked Torchic up and tightly hugged her. "Torchic, I'm so glad you're okay." May smiled. Torchic happily nuzzled up against her Trainer; she didn't want to be let out of May's sight anytime soon.

"Torchic has become quite fond of you, May." Norman commented. "I'm so happy for the both of you." Caroline added. From nearby, Ash and Max were both watching this on with bright smiles.

"So this is how a Trainer bonds with their Pokemon. Is that right, Ash?" Max asked. Ash nearly dropped in shock; Max actually chose to pronounce his name right for once. Max looked up to see Ash's face of shock and then showed a smug smile. "Don't think too much about that. It might not happen again." he added. Ash then crossed his arms: it seemed like Max wasn't going to change anytime soon.

May then grabbed out Torchic's Pokeball and returned Torchic into it, placing it in her bag. She then turned to see Ash watching her and, with a big smile on her face, ran over and hugged Ash tightly much to his surprise. "Ash, thank you so much for helping me save Torchic." May said. Ash stared in surprise for a few moments before he showed a bright smile on his own and hugged May back, with no one seemingly noticing them but Pikachu who had a big smile on his face seeing this.

It had become sunset by the time everyone arrived back at the Gym, and they came inside closing the door behind them. "So, what are you two going to do before you head out?" Caroline asked. Ash and May both looked down to think and then May smiled getting an idea.

"Mum, would it be all right if me and Ash stayed here for the night? We'll be ready to go the next morning." May suggested. Ash nodded in agreement; that actually sounded pretty good to him. Caroline then happily smiled and nodded.

"Absolutely. You two can come for dinner when you're ready." Caroline replied. "Thanks!" Ash and May both said in unison.

Meanwhile on the edge of Route 102, Brock and Misty both came out onto the hill and found themselves overlooking Petalburg City. "Well, we're finally here. Petalburg City. Do you think Ash will be here by now?" Brock asked.

"I'd say so. Come on, we better hurry." Misty replied. With that, she and Brock started to head off down the hill: hopefully soon, they will finally be able to catch up with Ash.


End file.
